New Scam Has Arrived!

Congratulations to fraudsters, you've successfully to scam our citizens again with your new scam method!

Well, I have to say sorry to the victims, it just has too many ways to cheat people hard-earn money nowadays. So far I've heard and seen, or even experienced the following scams:
1. Africa wealth scam via Email
2. ATM card scam by recording your PIN number
3. ATM PIN number scam via SMS
4. Credit card scam via Email & phishing web site
5. Hong Kong jackpot scam via phone & SMS - This is the most stupid way but it worked effectively in Malaysia. Yes it is. I gave a thumb up to the scammers, for their brilliant acting skills over the phone conversation.
And now, what again?

Mobile phone is the most effective tool for scammer to con money.

It never going to finish I tell you, as long as there are still fishes around, I mean the market. Now, I would like to take the opportunity here to share with you the latest scam technique, so you'll be aware of it, and get rid of unnecessary surprise in the near future. That's the best thing Ekimkee can does for you now. As for scammers, don't hate me, I'm just trying to help my friends & readers here.

According to Malaysia's Central Bank, there is a latest scam reported recently. Perhaps you've knew about it, but it doesn't matter to revise it one more time, yeah? To have a better picture, I will explain the scam in a story and point form, as below:

Is it a history for ATM machine scam?

1. One day, Mr.Lee receive a call from a 'bank', inquiring if he had just conducted a transaction for goods via credit card.

2. When Mr.Lee answer in negative, the caller'll informs Mr.Lee in a concerned tone to call a commercial bank's officer with a given the number. (Yes, the scammers making the procedure more complicated now in order to gain your trust.)

3. Mr.lee immediately contacts the officer. And the one who picked up the phone is identifying himself as 'bank' officer. Mr.Lee tells him that he did not conduct the mentioned transaction and Mr.Lee does not have such credit card.

4. But he informs Mr.Lee that the transaction had been carried out according to the 'bank' record and that the credit card belongs to Mr.Lee!

5. He suggests Mr.lee to call Central Bank 'Credit Card Fraud Unit' and gives you the number. (What a lovely unit name thought by the scammers! It doesn't exist anyway.)

6. Mr.Lee then reaches an automated voice message service which says he has reached "Central Bank". Then someone picks up & identifies himself as 'officer'. He asks for Mr.Lee banking and credit card information so that he can lodge a complaint on Mr.Lee's behalf.

7. Without hestitate, Mr.lee gives the necessary details over the phone and the 'officer' assured that 'Central Bank' will look into his problem. The phone is hanged up right after that. (Brilliant, they got a easy business today.)

Scam school available soon, anyone?

So what do you think? In fact, this scam method is very difficult to con over people who are smart, educated, read newspapers daily, experienced in credit card & bank account, or working in the finance sector. But unfortunately the scammers are targeting niche market, such as those people who are greedy, and now they swifted to people who fear to get any trouble related to finance.

Well, it's relatively okay to be greedy just like me, or having fears on related issue. We are human beings and we are all learning from our lesson. To learn ahead of others, perhaps you can refer to the points below to avoid being scammed on related cases.

If these cards are continuously to create issue for us, why don't we just cancel them?

A. Do not respond to any request for PIN or Internet banking user credentials over the phone, fax, email or SMS.

B. Call your bank if you are not sure of the authenticity of a call, SMS or email. Don't be afraid to call and verify, please.

C. Always enter the web site address (URL) directly in your web browser. Avoid being redirected to the website or hyperlinked to it from an email or another website. Don't acting smart and try to be convenient for yourself about this step.

D. Ensure that you are in a secure website by checking the bank URLs to ensure that it begins with "https://'" instead of "http://'" and look for a display of a closed padlock symbol on the status bar of your web browser.

E. Ensure that you protect your personal computer from hackers, viruses and malicious programmes. Invest commercial Anti-Virus/Spyware and Internet Security if necessary.

Always remember, there is no free lunch in this world, and do think-twice and verify any matter related to your hard-earn money! Have a new good week ahead, folks!