Tan (centre) together with students after her session on scam awareness, part of OCBC Bank’s commitment to safeguarding people against scams.
MORE than 700 seniors and youth are now better equipped to safeguard themselves against online scams, thanks to an educational session held by a bank.
Participants from three schools, a township and an old folks home attended a series conducted by staff of the legal, digital banking and service transformation units of OCBC Bank (M) Bhd.
The schools involved were Foon Yew High School in Johor Baru, Sekolah Menengah Chung Hua in Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan, and Jit Sin High School in Bukit Mertajam, Penang.
The residents were from Ixora Residences@Bandar Seri Coalfields in Selangor, while the senior citizens came from Rejuvenate Elderly Care Centre.
The sessions were part of the bank’s commitment to educate as many people as it can to be vigilant against scams.
OCBC Bank service transformation head Dzulkifly Aminuddin said the idea was mooted after he and his colleagues realised how people from all walks of life could so easily fall prey to scammers.
So, they set out to provide a means by which the community, young and old alike, could gain a better understanding of how scammers operate and ultimately prevent scams from happening to them and their loved ones.
Dzulkifly sharing tips on how to avoid falling prey to scammers.
“We conducted research and based on concrete data, we decided that we needed to provide people with clear examples of how the most rampant online scams take place, especially online jobs and impersonation scams.
“We reminded them that banks and the authorities do not ask for banking credentials, as well as not to click on dodgy links from random messages.
“It is important that we work towards countering scams together as a community and do our best to remain vigilant,” Dzulkifly said.
A senior citizen encapsulated what was in the minds of participants when she said that smartphones were part of people’s daily lives.
“We do a lot of shopping online, so it was a beneficial session as they really gave us an insight to the dangers of online scams.
“We now have a better sense of how to protect ourselves,” said the participant.
OCBC Bank’s legal head Tan Kiat Jane, who spoke at the sessions conducted in schools, said online scams were on an upward trend.
“OCBC Bank developed this set of talks to help increase public awareness of online scams.
“Many victims are young people looking for part-time work, who are vulnerable to scams that prey on jobseekers.
“We hope that through this talk, we have been able to protect them so that they can in turn share the tips with their family and friends as well,” said Tan.
