PETALING JAYA: The Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) is committed to take a holistic approach towards tackling the scourge of financial scams.
Measures would include amplifying the education and awareness amongst the public, under the National Scam Awareness Campaign to be more vigilant against financial scams and fraud.
The association’s council members made the commitment during a session with the media today.
The industry-wide campaign was launched in October this year aimed at educating and empowering the public to adopt good online hygiene practices and create awareness of the types of scams.
The collective effort will see consistent and frequent communications by the banks across various customer touchpoints to ensure the public remains vigilant of scam tactics and how to protect themselves.
The public is reminded that security is a collective responsibility that requires a “one nation approach”.
In a statement, ABM said the banking industry will undertake efforts on a holistic basis to tackle financial scams through three thrusts, namely education, action, and collaboration.
These will focus on creating awareness amongst all stakeholders including the public, and accelerating implementation of the five key measures as announced by Bank Negara Malaysia.
The measures, which it says are progressing well, include:
- Migrating from SMS One Time Password (OTP) to a more secure authentication method e.g. via secure multi-factor authentication software or hardware tokens for certain transactions. These transactions include fund transfers and payments, change of personal information and account settings (e.g. limits for withdrawals or transfers).
- Tightening the banks’ fraud detection rules and triggers for the blocking of suspicious transactions. This may result in the banks sending prompts/notifications to customers on unusual activities.
- Verification and cooling-off period for first time enrolment of e-banking services or secure device.
- Restrict authentication of electronic banking transactions to one mobile device or secure device per account holder.
- Banks will also have 24/7 dedicated complaint channel/hotline for customers to report incidents or suspicions of scam/fraud.
The respective banks will provide updates progressively on measures being rolled out to ensure customers are informed on the steps being taken to safeguard themselves.
The association said the banking industry is committed to work closely with all stakeholders to strengthen the trust and confidence of online banking in Malaysia.
ABM also reminded customers of the following online banking safety tips:
- Never share your banking credentials;
- Avoid clicking on links sent via chat messages and emails from unknown sources;
- Never use unsecured public WiFi connections to perform online banking transactions or electronic payments (e-payments);
- Only download apps from official/genuine app stores. Never download apps from links sent via chat message or email; and
- Install and update anti-virus and anti-malware software on devices.
ABM and its member banks also paid tribute to the late Teh Hong Piow, founder and chairman emeritus of Public Bank Group, who passed away yesterday.
It said Teh was “a titan of the banking industry” and a minute of silence was observed at the start of the session in his memory.