Be wary of scammers seeking personal online banking information – MCMC

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on Friday advised the public to stay alert of dubious tactics being deployed to get consumers to provide their personal information such as the username and password to online banking.

MCMC, in a statement here, said it had detected several tactics and modus operandi adopted by scammers, such as delivering to consumers random short messages that were similar to banks' SMS messaging.

“The text messages are to inform that there had been a suspicious financial transaction or there is a need for the consumer to confirm, update or reactivate their internet banking account,” read the statement.

Consumers will then be given a link to open up a fake website where they are then asked to insert their online banking username and password.

According to the statement the fake website would look very much like the actual internet banking page but the URL address is different and has variation in term of the name, fonts and spellings.

Elaborating, the MCMC said, the modus operandi included asking the consumer to contact a fake hotline to get connected to the scammers who disguise themselves as bank officers or the authorities.

“Through the interaction, the consumer will either be asked to open up a fake website where the online banking username and password are needed or download and install a fake APK file which requires them to key in their username and password,” it said.

MCMC said the tactic and modus operandi were also used to deceive and obtain the Transaction Authorization Code (TAC) or One-Time PIN (OTP) from users.

As such, MCMC called on the public to be alert when receiving short messages similar to the bank's and not to provide any banking information at any websites where the URL address differs from the actual internet banking page.

Consumers are also reminded not to simply contact any telephone numbers or hotlines, claiming to belong to the bank without checking and not to give their username and password including TAC or OTP to any party.

“Report to the respective banks immediately upon receiving any suspicious communication or when realising that you have been deceived into divulging your banking information to anyone,” said the statement.

The public may channel information or lodge reports on this matter to the police's Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) Scam Response Centre at 03-26101559 and 03-26101599, or MCMC through the link https://aduan.skmm.gov.my, e-mail aduanskmm@mcmc.gov.my or WhatsApp at 016 - 220 6262.