In light of the ever-increasing number of scam cases in Malaysia, the Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) and the Association of Islamic Banking and Financial Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM) have just launched a refreshed campaign to raise awareness of scams among Malaysians.
The campaign, called #JanganKenaScam, is a refreshed version of an earlier campaign that aims to increase the awareness and knowledge of the public about scams. The campaign will be run at a greater scale than ever before nationwide.
The campaign was launched by Datuk Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour, Governor, Bank Negara Malaysia, who said in his opening speech that, “Public awareness remains our strongest defence. Indeed, educating the public against scams is an ongoing effort that must go on.”
The #JanganKenaScam campaign is part of the ongoing measures that the banking industry is taking to reduce the number of scam cases in Malaysia. Earlier in the year, five key security measures were taken by all banks to battle scams, which include:
- Migration from SMS-based One-Time Password (OTP)
- Tightening of fraud detection rules
- Introduction of a cooling-off period for first-time online banking
- Restricting secure authentication to only a single device per account
- Setting up dedicated fraud hotlines for customers
The refreshed campaign will see stakeholders such as the banking industry, Polis DiRaja Malaysia (PDRM), and the Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission (MCMC) working together on ground educating the rakyat on scams, and how to empower themselves against it via roadshows and exhibitions around the nation.
Some interesting numbers were shared by MCMC’s Commissioner of Online Harms and Network Security Committee, Derek John Fernandez, on scams in Malaysia. Between 2018 and August 2023:
- Over 2.5 billion phone calls have been blocked
- 4000 phishing sites have been taken down
- Over 500 million scam SMSs have been blocked
- Over 230,000 accounts linked to suspicious SMSs have been terminated
- Over 17 million SMSs with suspicious hyperlinks have been prevented from reaching their intended recipients
There will be #JanganKenaScam Fest at various locations nationwide as part of the campaign, with the first event happening at the Minggu Saham Amanah Malaysia (MSAM) which is happening from now until 8 October in Bertam, Penang.
For the Klang Valley, there will be a #JanganKenaScam roadshow happening at 1 Utama Shopping Centre, from 15 to 19 November. Joining in for a few selected legs of the roadshow is the brand ambassador for #JanaganKenaScam, Hairul Azreen.
For more information, head on to the official website at www.jangankenascam.com.
