All fired up over ‘handsome deals’

JOHOR BARU: Scammers have been impersonating Fire and Rescue Department officers and fraudulently using the department’s name to dupe businesses with bogus tender deals across the country.

So far, nearly a dozen police reports have been filed in Selangor, Sabah, Johor, Perlis and Labuan about such scams, with losses exceeding tens of thousands of ringgit.

Forging the department’s letterheads, the scammers approach vendors, mainly food and hardware supply providers, with fake contracts. They are told that to secure the deals, an upfront commission must first be paid.

“These irresponsible people have forged our department letterheads and sent them to suppliers, saying that they have been awarded tenders. In order to secure the deal, they will need to pay a commission upfront first,” Fire and Rescue department director-general Datuk Nor Hisham Mohammad (pic) told The Star.

Nor Hisham said the vendors had to pay commissions of a few thousand ringgit each in exchange for the tender to supply food or raw materials to the department. The purported deals were for between RM100,000 and RM180,000.

“In one case, the supplier had actually cooked for 80 people and brought the food to a fire station in Johor. However, the caterer was shocked to find out that there was no such tender given out by the department for food supply on that date,” he said, adding that there was another case of food requested by the fire department for 1,000 people.

“Luckily, this caterer called the fire station first to make some enquiries, and was told that they did not place the order,” he said.

The department has since lodged police reports and hoped those involved would be nabbed.

Selangor has the highest number of cases, with 10 reports, followed by Sabah (7), Johor (6), Terengganu (3), and one in Perlis and Labuan since the beginning of this year.

Nor Hisham said that some of the forged letters even bore his name and signature.

“The department has never encountered such scams in the past because our procurement process goes through a proper system in the form of the ePerolehan system, developed by the Finance Ministry,” he said.

“My advice to all businesses nationwide is to check with the fire station concerned or the state fire headquarters if they get any such tender awards,” he said.

Nor Hisham said that in the last three years, the department had offered a total of 70 tenders.

“This year alone, we have some 25 ongoing tenders amounting to RM67mil,” he said, adding that those who want to request a tender would be able to get the information via tender advertisements on the ePerolehan website, MyProcument website, the Fire department’s website, and also from the department’s notice boards.

Nor Hisham said that the department viewed the matter seriously and would extend its full cooperation to the police.

Meanwhile, Johor police chief Comm M. Kumar said that police have received six police reports of scammers using the Johor Fire and Rescue Department’s name to trick caterers in the state. The losses to date amounted to RM24,900.

He said that reports were lodged between July 12 and 15.

“The victims said they received a call from an unknown individual who offered them contracts to supply food for ceremonies organised by the Johor Fire and Rescue Department.

“The victims were then instructed to make payments to a certain bank account if they wanted to get the contract,” he said, adding that the victims complied and only realised that they had been duped when they checked with the Fire and Rescue Department.

“Police have since opened up investigation papers under Section 420 of the Penal Code,” he said, adding that the public should not easily believe any such phone or online offers.

Comm Kumar urged the public to check with the relevant agencies or departments if they received any such offers to avoid being scammed.