PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA - The next time you receive a phone call from a person claiming to be from the authorities or from the Legal Aid Bureau and telling you that you are in trouble with the law, be very careful.

A 20-year-old polytechnic student fell prey to such a scam, where an individual claimed to be a magistrate and told the student that he was involved in a document forgery case last year and a warrant of arrest had been issued against him.

According to a police report lodged by the student on Wednesday, the "magistrate" then passed the phone to a police officer from Bukit Aman, who confirmed this information and added that if nothing was done, his two bank accounts would be frozen.

The student claimed he was then referred to a purported Legal Aid Bureau officer - one Suhaidi Ahmad - who in turn told the former to place RM18,000 into the bank account of one Mohd Zaid Tabrani and to meet him at the bureau's office here at 9am on Wednesday.

However, the student realised that he had been ripped off when was told by officers at the Legal Aid Bureau that Suhadi Ahmad was not an officer there and advised him to lodge a police report.

The student claimed that the money he had deposited into Mohd Zaid Tabrani's account was a loan obtained from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN).

At a press conference Thursday, Prime Minister's Department Legal Aid Bureau director-general Dr Hassan Ab Rahman said the student was the first person to have fallen for the scam.

He said over the last week, the bureau had received nine telephone complaints from the public on a similar matter where a person called them allegedly claiming that he was an officer from the bureau and that these people were involved in illegal transactions including document forgery and certain criminal offences.

"The alleged officer then said that if they wanted to clear their names, they were required to deposit large sums of money into a bank account for the matter to be resolved," he said.

Dr Hassan advised people to be cautious when receiving such calls from any person claiming to represent the bureau and asking for large sums of money in return for settling their "so-called" legal problems.

"The Legal Aid Bureau charges a RM2 processing fee to those who qualify for our legal advice and representation," he said.

The director-general urged the public who received such suspicious calls to immediately contact the Legal Aid Bureau, here at 03-8885 1398/1804/1809 or to lodge a report at the nearest police station.