Julian was a college student who discovered a lucky draw advertisement on social media that included a link. Intrigued by the advertisement, he clicked the link and began a conversation over WhatsApp with an anonymous person.

Julian was asked to purchase a pair of shoes and a watch, totalling RM600, to qualify for the lucky draw. He was asked to make another transfer of RM1,000 to be eligible for the grand prize lucky draw, which offered an iPhone 14 Pro Max and RM7,000 in cash.

He transferred a total of RM1,600 from his e-wallet account to pay for the items. He felt he had been scammed after not receiving the promised lucky draw gifts. He lodged a police report and reported the incident to the e-money issuer on the same day.

FINDINGS

The findings revealed that the payment transactions were performed using Julian’s e-wallet account, which is bound to his registered mobile number. Before transactions were performed, a 6-digit PIN was required for successful login.

A reload of RM1,550 was also made to his e-wallet account, which required authentication using the One-Time Pin. Further, no changes were made to the device associated with Julian’s e-wallet account. This aligns with the chronology of events, which shows that Julian voluntarily carried out the transactions after being deceived by an online lucky draw advertisement.

OUTCOME

The Ombudsman disallowed Julian’s claim, highlighting that the transactions were performed using his e-wallet account on an existing device, a Redmi Note 11, which had been bound since 6 December 2022. Moreover, the fund transfers made to the beneficiary were authorised using a 6-digit PIN, enabling the transactions to be completed.

The Ombudsman emphasised that it is the user’s responsibility to exercise vigilance before making any third-party transfers to safeguard the funds in their e-wallet account.