Public warned of rising online financial frauds and scams

The Central Bank (CB) yesterday cautioned the public to beware of financial frauds and scams being operated through social media and Internet-based applications and to refrain from sharing confidential information such as bank passwords and PINs with third parties. 

Issuing a press release yesterday, the CB noted that such scams are on the rise as the fraudsters are using marketing gimmicks such as easy loan schemes to attract the public to share their confidential information. 

“During such fraudulent loan approval processes, the fraudsters lure the public to share confidential customer information such as their bank account numbers and the customer’s personal identification numbers. The fraudsters then use such confidential information to access customer accounts and steal customers’ money,” the CB stated. Therefore, the CB strongly advised the public to be vigilant about these frauds and scams and not to share any confidential information, especially account usernames, passwords, PINs, OTPs or other information required for account verification with anyone. 

The CB further emphasised that such information must be used only by the customer who owns the account. 

“Customers must also carefully read the terms and conditions of any financial product or service, before accepting them,” the CB stressed. 

It was also encouraged for the public to obtain real-time notification services, such as SMS alerts from their banks or non-bank financial institutions such as finance companies in order for the public to be aware of any fraudulent activity that takes place using their accounts instantly.

Further, if customers are requested by third parties, such as easy-loan schemes, to provide customers’ confidential information, which will grant access to the customer’s current or savings accounts or receive any suspicious SMS or email alerts or telephone calls regarding transactions that the customer did not initiate, the CB advised the customers to take immediate action and inform their relevant bank or other financial institutions of such suspicious activity.