KUALA LUMPUR: Investors today need to be on their guard because scams know no boundaries and victims of scammers cut across gender, race, educational and social lines, a group of university students were told yesterday.

Technological advances have made it easier for scams to reach across geographical boundaries. In fact, the more sophisticated scams today mimic or incorporate characteristics of legitimate modes of investment while tailoring their schemes to avoid regulatory reach, said a speaker from the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) in a talk to about 180 students at HELP University’s Faculty of Business, Economics and Accounting in Kuala Lumpur.

“To be a savvy investor, continuous learning and keeping up-to-date with the latest information is a must because the market will continue to evolve,” said Aida Lim Abdullah, assistant general manager of the SC’s investor affairs and complaints department.

The talk was held in conjunction with a roadshow to promote the EdgeWiz Campus Investment Challenge 2015, an online investment game aimed at educating the next generation of investors.

“EdgeWiz has been recognised by the SC as an investor education initiative under InvestSmart. Our involvement is in line with InvestSmart’s objective to raise the level of investment literacy among Malaysians,” said Khairul Ridzwan Abdul Kuddus, deputy general manager and head of SC’s investor affairs and complaints department who kicked off the talk with an introduction to the Malaysian capital market.

Khairul, who is responsible for rolling out the investor empowerment and education initiatives of the SC, said the SC’s objective is more informed retail participation in the capital market. Investors must take charge and be responsible and not be influenced by factors like greed, apathy, naivety, a “leaving it all to the professionals” mindset or just following the crowd, he added.

The EdgeWiz Campus Investment Challenge 2015 is sponsored by The Edge and is in line with The Edge’s focus on promoting financial literacy and English through The Edge Education Foundation.

The challenge is open to Malaysian university and college students aged between 18 and 25. Entry is free and players can register between now and April 15 at www.edgewiz.com in teams of four or as individuals. The challenge starts on April 20 and will end on May 15.

The top team will take home a cash prize of RM10,000 and internships of up to six months at the SC for each of the four winning team members. The top individual player will win RM2,000 and an internship of up to six months at the SC.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on February 12, 2015.