KUALA LUMPUR: Have you noticed your bank sending you more emails and text messages than ever before about financial scams?
That’s because the increasing volume of cashless transactions is drawing in crooks in droves.
And that is why it is vital that awareness about new tactics is raised among the public, says Bukit Aman.
“The public must be equipped with adequate knowledge on scams. Efforts by banks and other institutions are good towards spreading more knowledge on the matter,” Senior Asst Comm Victor Sanjos told The Star yesterday.
“Be smart and stay alert. We must not take anything for granted and always stay alert to avoid becoming victims of scams,” added the deputy director (Cybercrimes and Multimedia Investigation) of the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department.
But is the public listening to warnings?
While cashless transactions are now increasingly being targeted by fraudsters, the Macau scam is still hooking people despite the wide media coverage it has received.
SAC Sanjos explained – again – that the scam involves syndicate members posing as officers from a government or enforcement agency and attempting to fool victims into transferring money to another account.
“Always remember that agencies do not conduct investigations over the phone. The most the officer would do is set up an appointment at the office,” he said.
SAC Sanjos said the best thing to do if one receives a call from a “government officer” claiming to be investigating a case is to cut it off immediately.
“Verify by calling a legitimate number of a government agency or department,” he added.
Do the same thing if you are suspicious about a cashless transaction: Call your bank or check the website, he said.
SAC Sanjos commended efforts by banks and financial institutions that pose various warnings against scams on their websites.
“It definitely helps in alerting the public.”
Spreading awareness on scams is pivotal in preventing them, SAC Sanjos said.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani previously said that the ability of cybercriminals to exploit technological changes and creatively trap victims with a variety of new methods and the moderate level of public awareness of cybercrime are among the reasons for the increasing number of such cases.
Acryl Sani said loan and investment scams, Macau and African scams, business email compromise (BEC) scams, email hacks, and SMS scams are among the main financial crimes affecting Malaysians.
In 2019, 13,703 cases were recorded with RM539mil in losses, followed by 17,227 cases in 2020 with RM511.2mil in losses and 20,701 cases in 2021 in which RM560.8mil was lost.
