Bank Islam stops 1,632 fraudulent transactions, nearly RM11.7mil saved in four months

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd (Bank Islam) detected and prevented 1,632 fraud-related cases within the first four months of this year, thus saving customers' savings amounting to RM11,682,813.19.

Bank Islam group chief operating officer Mohamed Iran Moriff Mohd Shariff said it was the result of the quick actions of the bank's staff, "Bank Islam heroes", for successfully foiling the fraudulent activities.

"For example, recently our 'Bank Islam heroes' at the Taman Bukit Indah branch in Johor Baru successfully intercepted and stopped a 'love scam' attempt, thus saving more than RM200,000 of a customer's savings.

"In another case in Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur, bank employees managed to save a customer from being a victim of a 'phone scam', involving a malicious software application, or malware. This prevented the customer from losing RM500,000,” he said, when appearing as a guest on Bernama Radio’s POV (Point of View) - Perspektif Bukan Persepsi programme, recently.

POV - Perspektif Bukan Persepsi airs every Tuesday, at 5.15pm, featuring regular panelist Kamal Affandi Hashim, who is a crime analyst.

However, Mohamed Iran Moriff said that the number was not a figure to be proud of, and that the bank will always educate the public through various initiatives, including providing posters on detecting fraud in its 135 branches nationwide.

He said that Bank Islam also provides a variety of security features to protect customer funds from fraud, among them the transition of the short message system (SMS) one-time password (OTP) transmission method to a more secure authentication method.

"Apart from that, the implementation of verification and a cooling-off period for electronic banking services, and allowing registration for one mobile device,” he said, adding that customers can also contact the special 24-hour hotline at 03-2690 0900 to raise any complaints regarding fraud.

Meanwhile, Kamal Affandi said that, apart from the bank's actions to prevent fraud attempts, the public also needs to be careful and not be easily fooled by syndicate tactics, such as becoming victims or customers as mule account holders.

"Don't be easily deceived and give bank account access to third parties, because it will only bring you harm,” he said. - Bernama