IF YOU have received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the Finance Ministry asking you to confirm your personal details for your Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah or Sumbangan Asas Rahmah payment, you are not alone.
The calls sound official, the numbers look legitimate, and the caller seems to know just enough to make you think twice before hanging up.
Are scammers really impersonating government cash aid officers to steal your personal information?
Verdict:
TRUE
The Finance Ministry issued a warning on its official Facebook page confirming that scam syndicates are impersonating Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) and Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (Sara) officers, using phone numbers designed to resemble the official hotlines.
The scammers are targeting personal and financial information including MyKad numbers, bank account details, TAC and OTP codes, banking passwords and PINs.
Anyone who hands over this information during one of these calls is giving scammers everything they need to access their bank accounts.
The Ministry was unequivocal: it has never appointed any third party to use the official STR or Sara hotlines, and it will never ask for any payment in relation to STR or Sara.
If the person on the line is asking for your banking details or requesting payment of any kind, they are not from the Finance Ministry.
The Ministry advised the public to never share personal or financial information over the phone with anyone claiming to represent STR or Sara, regardless of how convincing the caller sounds or how familiar the phone number appears.
If you receive a suspicious call, the Ministry's advice is simple: do not panic, end the call immediately, and contact the official STR and Sara hotline at 03-8882 4565 or 03-8882 4566 to verify whether the call was genuine.
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