IF YOU have ever received an urgent text message from your bank telling you to change your password immediately, your first instinct might be to panic and click the link.
Apparently, that is exactly what scammers are counting on, and a viral video warning about a fake Maybank SMS has put Malaysians on high alert.
Are scammers really impersonating banks via SMS to steal your banking credentials?
Verdict:
TRUE
Scammers are sending fake SMS messages impersonating Maybank and potentially other banks, asking recipients to click a link and change their username and password, in what is a phishing attempt designed to steal personal and banking information, according to a fact-check by MyCheck.my.
The fake message circulating reads: "MAYBANK: Pelanggan yang dihormati, sila tukar password & username perbankan internet anda sekarang kerana terdapat 3 kali cubaan untuk log masuk ke akaun perbankan anda. Sila tukar dengan kadar segera di pautan ini www.mayban.com/newpassword."
In English, the message claims there have been three attempts to log into the recipient's banking account and urges them to change their credentials immediately via the link provided.
MyCheck.my identified several red flags in the message. The link provided, www.mayban.com/newpassword, contains a misspelling of Maybank's name and is not the bank's official website, which is www.maybank2u.com.my. Misspellings of this kind are a common tactic used by cybercriminals to confuse users into thinking they are on a legitimate site.
The phone number used to send the message also raised suspicions, as it begins with the international dialling code +960, which belongs to the Maldives and has no connection to any Malaysian bank.
The message also employs classic scam pressure tactics, using urgent language such as "sila tukar dengan kadar segera" or "please change immediately" to induce panic and push recipients into acting without thinking.
Maybank's own official social media channels have previously warned the public about SMS phishing scams of this nature, noting that cybercriminals send messages that appear to come from the bank in order to obtain Maybank2u usernames and passwords.
The bank has issued multiple warnings about phishing attempts via SMS and email, cautioning that scammers create fake websites designed to closely resemble official banking sites.
Critically, no bank in Malaysia will send links via SMS. A statement by the Amaran Scam Facebook page, which monitors financial crime warnings, confirmed that as part of the latest measures taken by the financial industry to strengthen protection against financial crime, banks will no longer send links to customers via SMS.
Anyone who receives such a message is advised not to click the link, to verify any suspicious SMS through official bank channels, and to report the incident to the relevant authorities.
Source:
2. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DV8p1lvj2eU/
3. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cfdalm2sGiE/?img_index=2
