M'sian man allegedly asked to pay S$650 after JB police asks to see his phone & finds 4D ticket record

A man who was driving along an expressway in Malaysia was allegedly pulled over by a traffic police officer and asked to pay RM,2000 (around S$653) to avoid being taken to the police station.

Asked to check driver's phone

In a viral Facebook post on Mar. 13, a woman said her husband had been driving along an expressway in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, when he was pulled over by a traffic police officer.

Her husband initially believed it was a routine check and complied when the officer asked to see his mobile phone.

According to the woman, the officer scrolled through the phone and saw a record showing that her husband had purchased a "4D" lottery ticket.

In Malaysia, buying a lottery ticket through unofficial channels, such as "underground" agents or unlicensed online apps, is illegal.

She said the officer then allegedly told him: "Two people, RM1,000 each, totalling RM2,000. Settle this now, or we’ll take you to the police station. Then it will no longer be this amount."

The woman said her husband was stunned as he did not have any money with him. He then secretly called her for help.

"I felt this didn’t make sense," she wrote in the post. "He only bought a lottery ticket for fun. It’s not like he was selling it or committing a serious crime."

Speaking to the officer over the phone, the woman said she told him: "Our family doesn’t have that much money. If you really want to arrest him, then arrest him. At most he’ll be detained for a few days."

Officer agreed to lower fee

The woman said she later proposed paying RM200 (around S$65) per person instead.

"It’s almost Chinese New Year. Let’s help each other out," she recalled saying.

According to the woman, the officer agreed to the reduced amount.

She said she was told to transfer the money to her husband, who then withdrew the cash from an ATM and handed it over.

She also clarified that she shared the incident not to seek sympathy or encourage others to confront officers in a similar situation. Instead, she merely wanted to raise awareness.

"We were lucky that the other party accepted the negotiation," she said. "If we had met someone more difficult, the outcome might have been different."

Checks to be based on reasonable suspicion, random checks not allowed

According to local news outlet Bernama, police are authorised to inspect a person’s mobile phone—but only those with a rank of Inspector or higher can do so.

The Inspector-General of Police said the authority is provided under Section 23(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code and is also supported by provisions in the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

However, the search must be based on "reasonable suspicion", rather than random checks, The Star previously reported.

This means that the police may only access a person's mobile phone if:

• a police report has been lodged
• a person is under investigation, or
• if there are suspicions of involvement in criminal activity.

It could otherwise be considered an abuse of power, and those who feel that their phones have been checked without a valid reason are encouraged to make a police report, Malaysia's home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had said.

Top photos from Nacoko 纳果果/Facebook