Police have busted a transportation company that was using hacked TnG (Touch ‘n’ Go) cards to pay tolls since more than a year ago. The company owns 160 lorries.
Police stated that the confiscated TnG cards were genuine, but had been hacked by a man who topped them up with values of up to RM300 before selling them to the company at a rate of RM150 to RM200 per card.
Negeri Sembilan Police Chief, Datuk Alzafny Ahmad, said that following a complaint from TnG, police arrested a local man and his Chinese national wife in the district on September 9.
“On July 18, TnG identified a discrepancy between the collection revenue and claims from several toll plazas before conducting an investigation and reviewing the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from the involved toll plazas.
“Several lorries belonging to a company are believed to have conducted illegal transactions. Acting on information, the Seremban District Commercial Crime Investigation Division raided a company in this district,” he said at a press conference today.
He said the company owner, a 43-year-old man, and a 33-year-old Chinese national woman were arrested on suspicion of using hacked TnG cards with illegally topped-up value.
“Also seized were three mobile phones, 304 TnG cards, one CCTV unit, and cash amounting to RM400,000.
“Preliminary investigations found that the TnG cards were hacked with illegally added value for the company’s use to avoid paying toll costs throughout the journeys of the company’s lorries,” he said.
Elaborating on the modus operandi, he said the cards were purchased from a local man who is still at large, who used special software available for purchase online.
“These cards are genuine, but were hacked using two special software programs by the man. We do not deny that this suspect may have also sold these cards to other parties.
“A total of 213 cards were confirmed by TnG, with losses reaching RM59,920 for July and August from this company alone, but there are other losses still under investigation,” he said.
According to him, the male suspect is the company owner, while the female suspect was responsible for checking the received cards for any issues before distributing them to lorry drivers to pass through toll plazas.
Alzafny said they are hunting for the card supplier, while the two suspects have been remanded for four days from September 10 to 13 for investigation under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
“The police would like to remind the public that any use of hacked TnG cards is illegal.
“This is the second such case in the country,” he said.
