KUALA LUMPUR: The Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) and Association of Islamic Banking and Financial Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM) jointly launched an anti-scam campaign called #JanganKenaScam.
The national scam awareness campaign underscores the banking industry's commitment to combat financial scams in fostering unity and strengthening its efforts to prevent fraudulent banking activities, and drive forward a singular message to avoid being scammed.
To halt the uptrend of financial scams in the country, the campaign will be launched at a greater scale than before, to raise public awareness with a nationwide roll-out of the #JanganKenaScam Fest in urban and suburban areas, featuring experiential booths and informational exhibitions to equip Malaysians with practical anti-scam knowledge so that they could easily identify scam tactics and protect themselves and their loved ones.
"While security and technology measures are important, public awareness remains our strongest defence. Indeed, educating the public against scams is an ongoing effort that must go on.
"I commend the private sector’s work in coordinating industry-wide anti-scam strategies through its industry taskforce.
"Such industry-led initiatives are testament to the private sector’s high level of commitment," said Bank Negara Governor Datuk Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour in his opening address at the launch of the campaign.
Earlier this year, the banking industry banded together to implement several key security measures to fight scams, such as migrating from SMS One-Time-Password (OTP), tightening of fraud detection rules, imposing cooling-off period for first-time online banking registration, restricting secure authentication to a single device, and setting up dedicated fraud hotlines for customers.
"We encourage the public to take up this fight with us so we can defeat scammers together." said ABM Chairman Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli.
AIBIM President Datuk Mohd Muazzam Mohamed said, "We remain steadfast in our commitment to protect the financial well-being of our community.
"The refreshed #JanganKenaScam campaign is a significant part of our efforts to raise awareness and fight against scams."
Well-known Malaysian celebrity and entrepreneur Hairul Azreen has taken up the mantle to battle scams as the official brand ambassador of the #JanganKenaScam campaign.
In his role, Hairul would be an advocate for public awareness against scams and join the #JanganKenaScam Fest to encourage more Malaysians to take up an active fight against scams.
The public would also have an opportunity to experience the #JanganKenaScam Fest at various locations nationwide, starting with the Minggu Saham Amanah Malaysia (MSAM) in Bertam, Penang from now until Oct 8 and coming soon in 1 Utama Shopping Centre in Petaling Jaya from Nov 15 to 19.
Joining in is brand ambassador Hairul Azreen, who will feature in selected legs of the #JanganKenaScam Fest.
For more information on the #JanganKenaScam campaign and tips on how to combat scams, the public can visit www.JanganKenaScam.com.
