Received this email this morning

I just want to share the incident that happened to me yesterday. I received a call from a woman by the name Lisa claiming she is calling on behalf of Bank Negara. She introduced herself formally and explained to me that Bank Negara is concerned for credit card users in Malaysia who overspend their limit and put themselves too deep in debt. So, Bank Negara is introducing this new “MBF Countdown Backup” card for all owners of credit cards all around Malaysia and will soon be a compulsory thing. The card, according to Lisa, will be swiped every time a transaction is performed using your credit card and this will enable Bank Negara to monitor our spending. And in return, we will get discounts ranging from 5% to 40% for different merchants.
Then, this is where my stupidity sets in. Because she spoke to me in Bahasa Malaysia and the background noise implicates that it is a bank working environment, and above all this, she was able to readout to me my 16-digit credit card numbers and particulars and even my outstanding balance with the credit card, it convinced me that this could be a new system implemented by Bank Negara. So, when she asked for my 3-digit approval code written behind the credit card, I “STUPIDLY” gave it to her.
Then after all this was charade was over, Lisa informed me that a charge of RM480 will be charged to my credit card as a starters fee to waive off the annual fee. This woke me up!! So, I questioned Lisa on why do I need to pay for something that Bank Negara wants to implement to help the people of Malaysia (not a very noble cause). Then she explained to me that they are from a company calling on behalf of Bank Negara. And she said all the banks are well aware of this system. She then passed me over to her manager, Mr. Zakri or Mr. Z (similar to the MIB) or something. This gentleman then tries to assure me that this is not a fraud or scam.
Then after his long-winded speech about the benefits of their card (no longer Bank Negara’s), I told him to hold the approval of the card as I don’t need it. I told him that I will call my bank to verify this card and get back to him. He agreed to my suggestion and even gave me 2 of his contact numbers for me to get back to him (03-40422522 and 03-40424288). So, when I called both my credit card banks regarding this matter both banks told me that there was no such thing.
Immediately I told that I might have fell for a fraud telephony case and wanted to cancel and suspend all my credit cards. The banks suspended my cards and agreed to send me a replacement card. Then when I called back Mr. Z at the number he gave me, a different lady attended to me and passed me on to a Chinese lady who spoke in mandarin to me in a very heavy China accent. I told them that I have called my cc banks and canceled my cards and specifically her that I do not agree to their terms and I don’t want their offer.
She explained to me and assured me that they will delete my cc details and not charge me for anything. So, all this happened yesterday. Being paranoid, I called my banks again this morning to double check if any transactions had gone through yesterday after I canceled my card. And guess what. Those Fraudsters actually did try to charge me but the banks did not let the transactions go through. I consider myself lucky coz I acted a step ahead of them.
Lesson from all of this, never ever entertain telephony offers that involve credit cards. 2 of my colleagues fell for these scams before and 1 of them was lucky enough to have the bank recognize it as a fraud case while the other 1 lost RM3000.

Being in this industry I have seen so many types of fraud cases, and this one is not the most cunning one. This one clearly is an Inside Job though, or a person with access to the victims Credit Card Statement, as while information on a person’s credit card number is easy to get, the phone number and credit limit takes a little more skill. Here are some tips easily prevent yourself from falling into these traps.

1) All communication from the Bank will always come in via a physical letter and the Bank will never implement something last minute. You will always be given advance notice, and in most cases you will actually need to go to the branch to collect or sign something.

2) The Bank will never ask for your PIN, or any secure code from your credit card. These are security features. Nobody in the bank even knows these values. They are generated via secure hardware devices with the use of 32 bit keys, which are not known to only one person. Security measures require all keys loaded into these devices to be held partially by a few people, so nobody in the bank knows these. The bank will NEVER ask for your PIN, but you might be asked for your Secure code at the back of your Credit Card ONLY when you are making a purchase of some form via a Web page or via a Telephone call. They never use that number to verify who you are. Banks will use other details to verify your identity, such as your IC number, your last transaction done, your credit limit, your address, details as such.

3) So keep your information private. Don’t go letting people know your IC number for fun. In fact, I never put my real IC nunber when I visit non-governmental buildings, like condo’s or office building. These people actually have no business knowing your IC number. If they need photo identification, use your driving license or a Staff ID, which is more than sufficient.

4) Read the news papers. Know whats going on. Bank Negara is a regulatory body and they do not ever implement things by themselves. They will actually make rulings and force the Banks to do these requirements. Hence nobody will ever call you from Bank Negara. If there are any new regulations on Credit Cards, Bank Negara will inform your credit card company, and they are the ones who will communicate with you.

5) When anybody calls you claiming to be from your bank, Ask them to Identify themselves. Get their name. The bank might call you if they suspect fraudulant transactions, but they will only ask you to confirm that transaction. They will never ask for any private information. Another good reason to remember somebodies name is if you have to make a complaint about something, you know who called you.

Hope this information is useful.

On this day in History..

• Fri, Sep 19 2003 - 2003
• Get me to the church on time... - 2005
• I have gained weight again.... - 2006
• Line of the Day - 2006
• How to break up with my boyfriend? - 2006
• Which Action Hero Are You? - 2007
• Pavillion KL :- List of Future shops - 2007
• London Calling :- London Post Box - 2008
• Tango in Paris :- On my way - 2008
• Malaysia , the land of the worst Taxi's - 2008

Tags: Nation

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 at 8:04 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.