KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia has warned the public to be vigilant of scams via phone calls, requesting confirmation on credit card transactions following an increase in such cases.

The central bank had on Thursday, April 22 urged the public to be more vigilant when receiving any calls claiming that it is from BNM or any commercial bank.

"The facts are that there is no department called 'Unit Kad Kredit Palsu' in BNM, (while) 03-2772-XXXX is not a BNM telephone line," it said.

It reminded all individuals with bank accounts not to disclose their personal identification numbers (PIN) and passwords to third parties. It added banks will never request for such personal information through telephone calls.

Based on recent complaints received by BNM, there was an increase in such cases of fraudsters making such calls to unknowing members of the public in order to fraudulently obtain their personal banking information, with the aim of siphoning monies from their accounts.

From Bank Negara Malaysia's investigations, the latest modus operandi of the scam is as follows:

1.    Victim receives telephone call from a 'commercial bank' requesting victim to confirm a credit card transaction for the purchase of goods overseas for example, transactions in Shanghai purportedly charged to the victim's credit card.

2.    When the victim informs the fraudster that he has no such credit card or transaction, the fraudster will sound concerned and will advise victim to lodge a report with Bank Negara Malaysia's "Unit Kad Kredit Palsu". The fraudster will provide the victim with the telephone number for the "Unit Kad Kredit Palsu".

3.    When the victim calls the telephone number provided, he would be greeted by an automated voice message which identifies the company as Bank Negara Malaysia, and the call will be answered by someone claiming to be a Bank Negara Malaysia officer. The officer will request for information relating to the victim's banking and credit card accounts. The fraudster will then instruct the victim to transfer money over the counter to a third party account in the pretext of safeguarding the victim's money.

4.    In other cases, fraudsters will request for information relating to the victim's banking and credit card accounts to illegally transfer funds out of the victim's bank account.

For more information on financial scams activities, visit the financial fraud alert site at http://fraudalert.bnm.gov.my.