Beware of the RM 150,000 TNB scam!
I recently received this email that was purportedly sent by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB). At first glance, it looks quite genuine, but there are many mistakes. See if you can spot them!
Wrong Email Addresses
If you have written to TNB Careline (their customer service department) before, you would realise that the TNB Careline email address used is wrong. They sent this email from [email protected], but the real TNB Careline email address is [email protected].
This could be a spoofed or fake email address, although we wonder why they didn’t just spoof the real TNB Careline email address. A quick WHOIS check revealed that careline.com.my is registered to :
warisan business solution (m) sdn bhd (535699-H)
Note that they set the email so that you would reply to a different email address – [email protected]. It also lists [email protected] as an alternate email address. They are free Microsoft email accounts that anyone can setup. They are certainly not TNB official email accounts, or email accounts associated with TNB.
Grammatical Mistakes Everywhere
This is what it said (grammatical mistakes in bold) :
Ini adalah satu pemberitahuan rasmi daripada ibu pejabat daripada Tenaga Nasional Berhad sempena Persatuan Air Malaysia (PAM) untuk memaklumkan anda mengenai Hadiah Khas Eksklusif Tenaga Nasional Berhad Akhir Tahun dan kami Kami dengan gembira mengumumkan alamat e-mel anda sebagai salah satu daripada 7 alamat e-mel yang dipilih semalam yang diadakan di ibu pejabat di Kuala Lumpur.
Dilampirkan disini Nombor Rujukan TNB-1187-48901 dengan Nombor kelulusan, TNB / 2012-087 /KL, dan nombor bertuah, TNB / 7071KL-733 yang memenangi MYR 150,000.00 (Seratus Lima Puluh Ribu Ringgit Malaysia Sahaja), alamat e-mel anda dipilih dari pangkalan data ibu pejabat lembaga program Tenaga Nasioanl Berhad dan TNB memberi MYR150,000 kepada 7 keluarga yang bertuah menerima mesej rasmi ini melalui e-mel sebagai pampasan 1 Malaysia.
Hadiah ekslusif Akhir Tahun TNB berjumlah MYR150,000.00 akan dikeluarkan kepada anda melalui bank antarabangsa. Oleh kerana rombakkan beberapa nombor dan nama, kami meminta anda menyimpan mesej ini untuk diri sendiri dan tidak akan sama sekali mendedahkan kepada pihak TNB sehingga tuntutan anda telah diproses, dan hadiah anda dimasukkan ke dalam akaun anda, kerana ini adalah sebahagian daripada protokol untuk mengelakkan penyalahgunaan nombor bertuah anda.
Untuk memulakan tuntutan TNB anda, anda dikehendaki mengisi borang pengesahan di bawah dan mengemukakannya kepada ejen tuntutan anda,Puan Zailina Bt Zainal Abidin bagi membolehkan beliau menjelaskan fail anda dan membayar dengan segera.
TNB is the electricity utility company over here for any non-Malaysians reading this, and here is the English translation of the content (including grammatical mistakes in bold) :
This is an official notification from the head office of Tenaga Nasional Berhad in conjunction with Persatuan Air Malaysia (PAM) to inform you about the Tenaga Nasional Year End Special Exclusive Prize and we We with pleasure announce your email address as one of 7 email addresses selected last night that was held at our headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
Attached is the Reference Number TNB-1187-48901 with the approval Number, TNB / 2012-087/KL, and the lucky number, TNB / 7071KL-733 that won MYR 150,000.00 (One Hundred Fifty Thousand Malaysian Ringgit Only), your email address was chosen from the database of the headquarters of the Tenaga Nasioanl Berhad programme council and TNB gives MYR150,000 to 7 lucky families that receive this official message via email as 1 Malaysia compensation.
The TNB Year End exclusive prize worth MYR150,000.00 will be taken out to you through an international bank. Due to the reshuffling of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep this message for yourself and never reveal it to TNB until your claim has been processed, and your prize deposited into your account, because this is part of the protocol to avoid abuse of your lucky number.
To begin your TNB claim, you are required to fill in the acknowledgement form below and submit it to your claim agent, Puan Zailina Bt Zainal Abidin to allow her to clarify your file and pay immediately.
Lack Of Logic
Why would TNB give away money? Never mind the ridiculous amount. Why would an electricity utility company give away money as part of a “Year End Special Exclusive Prize“, whatever that is???
Why would they announce a Year End prize in the middle of the year? From a quick investigation, it appears that this scam first appeared in January this year. It looks like they didn’t even bother to modify the email for this round.
For some bizarre reason, they also claim that it is a joint prize by TNB and PAM (the old name for the MWA – the Malaysian Water Association). Why would an electricity utility company and an association of water companies join up to give away money? Logic much?
Then later in the email, it claims that the money is being paid out as part of 1 Malaysia compensation. What on Earth is that???
TNB Is Already Aware Of This Scam
I was informed by TNB that they had already lodged a report since it was first reported. However, I seriously doubt anything is being done, because the scam is being repeated now. It looks like the MCMC isn’t as quick to act with scams, as they are with politically-sensitive websites like Sarawak Report.
TNB had actually issued a press release in April about this scam :
Beware of Email Scam / Fake Contest
Date: 16/04/2015
ATTENTION! TNB would like to notify that there is an e-mail scam that is being circulated/spread by an unidentified party, which claims that email addresses from 7 lucky customers have been chosen to win RM150,000 in cash.
TNB wishes to clarify that we DO NOT engage in any such promotional activity.
We would like to advise the customers NOT to reveal their personal data/information to any unidentified party.
Kindly be aware and alert your family and friends on this matter.
For any further clarification, please contact TNB CareLine at 1 300 88 5454.
