Monday, April 13, 2009
I was almost been duped to the latest scam. They are no longer using sms. But through series of routine communications when you deal with phone banking.You might thought that how stupid I am to fall for such scam but not untill you heard their convincing conversations, then you'll no. Here, I am sharing you their modus operandi.
1.You'll received an automated call reminding you about your credit card late payment.They will end the reminder with Press 0 for our customer service, 1 for others.(voice machine system. Sounds familiar?)
2.Once you press 0 for inquiry, a telephone assistant will answer it.
3.They will confirm that your name exist in their system and a cardholder. They will give you the detail when was the card was applied, date and venue. And the application was approved base don your copies of IC and 3 months payslip. (i believes most of us has handed over many times of our copies of payslip and ic to insurance agencies or brokers.)
4.the telephonist will then advice you to contact and lodge a report the Bank Negara. He is helpful that he also provide you with the Bank Negara fraud department direct line.The number is 03-86590241.
5.After feeling not so much amiss about the conversation with the telephonist. You feel the urgency to lodge a report at the Bank Negara.
6. Once you called the number, another guy will answer it a nice greeting. "Bank Negara Fraud Department, may i assist you?"
7.The 'officer' will then ask your name and IC and your contact no for him to contact you in 5 minutes, while he run your name in the system.
8.5 minutes later, the 'officer' will call you. He'll tell you that the conversation is recorded and you need to tell the chronology of your report.
9. The officer will then tell you : the investigation will take 3 days to be completed. In the meantime, Bank Negara will need to monitor your active bank accounts i.e: credit cards, saving.
10. They are also offered some kind of insurance to protect your money. In case within 3 days of the investigation, there is an amount of money missing from your account, bank negara will reimburse.
11. In order for them to monitor, they need to have all the 16 digit numbers on the cards.
12. The 'officer' will tell you that the number in the magnetic chip in your credit card will be change. However, they can't do it for your ATM card. Thus, their technical guy will contact you for a simple direction to make the changes.
13.A lady will call in about 10 minutes claim from the technical team. The verification of the complaint lodged take place. (same like phone banking).
14. The lady will then asked you how long for you to get to the nearest ATM machine for them to call back and give instruction.
15. They will call you back at the stipulated time and will give you a special instruction to change the magnetic number. HOWEVER, THE NEW 16 DIGIT NUMBER IS THE NUMBER IN WHICH ALL YOUR MONEY WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO.
I was very lucky that I was earlier to arrived at the ATM machine. When i tried to call them back, it's either call reject or line is busy. My first instinct is to call my friend who works in the Bank Negara to check the number given (03-86590241) and called the AMBANK.
Surprisingly, the number given does not belongs to Bank Negara (as it's always start with 2) and the credit card does not exist in Ambank. When I got to know that, I started calling my banks and have all my cards blocked and replace with a new one.
According to the officer in CIMB Bank, they are familiar with the sms scam but this case is the latest in financial scam. Hope you guys spread the words around!