Forum highlights ways to avoid falling prey to scammers

Participants at the ‘Do Not Be A Scam Victim’ forum in Bandar Utama 11 community hall, Petaling Jaya.

ONLINE scams have become ubiquitous, with victims coming from all spectrum of society as criminals become more sophisticated in their attacks.

To bring more awareness on this, a “Do Not Be A Scam Victim” forum was held at Bandar Utama 11 community hall in Petaling Jaya to shed light on the various scams and how to avoid them.

The programme was organised by Bandar Utama assemblyman Jamaliah Jamaluddin with the collaboration of the Petaling Jaya police.

Some 100 residents aged 40 to 70 attended the forum which had panellists from the police, banks and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

Selangor Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Asst Comm Azman Ali said 2,011 online scam cases were reported in the state so far this year.

“In the Damansara area alone, a total of 546 online scam cases were reported from January to September, amounting to a total loss of RM2.5mil.”

“For Selangor in the same period, the losses for victims amounted to RM92mil,” he said.

ACP Azman said the best way to prevent online scams was to be aware of the situation.

Affin Bank senior vice-president and group head Yunos Yusop said according to their investigations, in most scam cases, the victims had clicked on a given link and then provided the bank’s TAC number to the scam caller.”

MCMC New Media Department network security division deputy director Mohd Luthfi Azzamuddin Mohd Munim said scammers were getting more sophisticated and could even bypass security systems.

“I advise the public to activate a two-factor authentication system within social media applications as it gives an extra layer of protection that does not allow scammers to enter any of your accounts.”

“Awareness is the key to avoiding and preventing online scams,” he added.

The forum panellists discussed numerous scam tactics currently in use such as love scams, investment scams, phishing email scams and SMS scams.

Several participants at the forum suggested increasing the fraud surveillance system in banks to protect the elderly from falling prey to scammers.

ACP Azman urged those who receive suspicious phone calls to check the police online scam platform at https://ccid.rmp.gov.my/semakmule/

Jamaliah said the event was the first of its kind in the constituency.

“Even with the public’s knowledge of online scams increasing, a victim may not not realise they are being scammed in that moment,” she said.

Also present at the event was Petaling Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Mohamad Fakhruddin Abdul Hamid.