GEORGE TOWN: The public has been warned to be on the alert for a syndicate which dupes victims into revealing personal banking particulars and the security code of credit cards.
The syndicate’s modus operandi is to call their victims by phone, claiming to be from a local bank, and inform them that they had exhausted their credit card limit or a huge amount of transaction had taken place.
The victims would then be asked to call a number of the “bank” to verify the purchases.
When the victim makes the call, a bogus “bank officer” would verify the transaction involving thousands of ringgit and the victim would be asked to give their personal particulars, including bank account numbers and the three-digit security code on their credit card for verification to stop the so-called fraud.
The syndicate’s activities came to light after seven cases, involving victims who lost a total of RM60,000, were detected in Penang this month.
State Commercial Crime Department chief Asst Comm Roslee Chik said Penang recorded the highest number of such cases in the past two weeks. In some cases, the victims were told that there was a problem with their bank account and were asked to transfer their money into another given account number until the “bank” completed its investigation.
He advised the public to ignore such calls and to liaise directly with their banks if there was such a problem with their credit cards or bank accounts. “A bank officer will never call to ask for such information. Never give out your three-digit security code for they could easily be used for on-line transactions. We tried to trace the number that was used to call the victims but it was registered in Taiwan,” ACP Roslee said.