From January to October 2023, thirteen member banks under the ambit of The Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) and the Association of Islamic Banking and Financial Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM) have successfully prevented fraudulent transactions worth RM351 million and protected customers from scams.
This achievement underscores their unwavering commitment to robust fraud prevention measures, as they remain steadfastly vigilant and proactive in their anti-scam endeavours, most recently highlighted by the launch of the banking industry’s #JanganKenaScam awareness campaign.
The detection and prevention actions by banks saved customers from being defrauded of their funds through various fraudulent schemes such as e-commerce, job applications, investment, impersonation as well as phishing scams.
The first National Scam Awareness campaign was launched in October 2022, where banks progressively implemented five key measures propounded by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to combat financial scams.
This consisted of migrating from SMS one-time passwords (OTP) to a more secure authentication method; tightening banks’ fraud detection rules; verification and cooling-off period for first-time enrolment of e-banking services or secure device; allowing only a single mobile device or secure device to be registered; and a 24/7 dedicated complaint channel for customers.
Customers and the public at large would have already been also informally invited to join in the crusade against financial scams through messages from banks on cognisance of various types of scams and corresponding scam mitigation actions, through various mass and social media platforms as well as various bank touchpoints.
“The united efforts in creating an environment that is more alert to, and able to avoid scams by ABM and AIBIM reflect the associations’ and member banks’ collective dedication to creating a secure banking environment, where customers can have trust in the safety of their financial transactions.
“With collaboration and adherence to industry best practices, we aim to fortify the foundations of our banking ecosystem, offering our customers the peace of mind they rightfully deserve,” said Dato’ Khairussaleh Ramli, ABM Chairman.
Dato’ Mohd Muazzam Mohamed, AIBIM president commented, “Through our collective initiatives, customers have also proven to be positively impacted by the banks’ efforts through enhanced security measures in financial fraud prevention – ultimately helping them save significant amounts from being lost to scammers.”
Meanwhile, a survey conducted by marketing research company Rakuten Insights conducted in June to July 2023, entitled Banking Industry Public Opinion on Scam, provided interesting insights gleaned from over 1,200 members of the public.
The survey highlighted that 63% of Malaysians have links to a scam either directly or indirectly, 17% have been a direct victim of banking or financial scam whereas 46% have not been a victim but know someone who has been victimised.
Interestingly, respondents mentioned that 76% of the scam cases they are aware of were due to victims revealing their banking credentials by mistake, allowing scammers to gain access to their finances.
Eighty-six percent of respondents acknowledged receiving messages from banks to be on the alert for banking and financial scams.
Across five major banking institutions, an average of 68% of respondents rated the banks’ efforts in driving scam awareness as satisfactory, in their combat against fraud and scams. Furthermore, 71% of these respondents do consume and read material from banks’ efforts in alerting and educating about scams.
Ultimately most respondents feel that the news and common sense are the most important in identifying scams, while more than 50% mentioned that they feel prepared to handle financial scams.
It is noteworthy that the survey found that people who always read and understand bank alerts are 15% more prepared to handle or manage scams compared to others.
ABM, AIBIM, and their member banks will continue to work closely with law enforcement agencies and financial regulators including BNM and PDRM as well as Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), and stakeholders such as CyberSecurity Malaysia to help spread the message that customers should remain vigilant and exercise caution while conducting financial transactions.
ABM and AIBIM urge individuals to report any suspicious activities promptly to their respective banks so that they can take necessary actions. Anyone who is a victim of a financial scam can also alert the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) by calling the NSRC hotline at 997.
