If you happen to get a call from Maybank one of these days, the best thing to do is to get a cup of coffee, listen for 11 seconds and then hang up.
It's for your own good, really.
The police have recently issued a warning regarding a 'Macau scam' that's pretty rampant right now where the scammers would pose as - you guessed it - Maybank officers.
Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department deputy director (Cyber and Multimedia Investigation) Senior Asst Comm Datuk Mohd Kamaruddin Md Din told The Star Online in an interview recently that countless Malaysians have fallen for the scam.
Here's how the Maybank scam works, according to ACP Mohd Kamaruddin:
- The scammers would pose as Maybank officers and randomly call up strangers, telling them that they have overdue personal loans with the bank
- The scammers would then ask for the potential victim's personal information, such as full name and IC number
- If the victim says that he does not have any personal loans with Maybank, the scammer would then tell the victim that his identity is being used by a third party for suspicious activities such as money laundering and drug-related crimes
- The scammers would then provide a number for the victim to call, advising him to lodge a report with the police or Bank Negara
- When the victim calls the number, another scammer would pick up the call, posing either as a police officer or a Bank Negara staff
- The fake officer would then ask for the victim's banking account details
- The officer would then instruct the victim to transfer all the money into another account provided by the scammers, on the pretext of safeguarding the money or preventing the victim's banking account from being frozen by the bank
- The officer would then warn the victim against telling anyone as it would jeopardise the investigation
- The victim would later realise that he has been duped and would start hating his life
ACP Mohd Kamaruddin also urged anyone who received suspicious calls like that to lodge a report at the nearest police station.
And guys, please do not ever disclose your banking details - especially your online banking password - to anyone, even if that person is a legit Maybank officer.