Another victim of internet banking fraud has come forth today to seek my help to engage with banks to seek refund of money transferred out of his savings account and credit card accounts.
On 28.4.2022, Mr. Chew (周) discovered that there were 3 successive unauthorised transfers of fund from his CIMB bank account, namely 1 transfer of RM1,819 to Shoppee, 2 transfers of RM1,950 and RM3,000 to U-Mobile. He immediately informed and bank and lodged a police report.
After 2 weeks, the RM1,819 transferred to Shoppee was refunded but the RM4,950 transferred to U-mobile was still not refunded to him. The bank kept giving excuses that it needs further investigation to delay the refund.
Meanwhile, in May, Mr. Chew also discovered that his 2 credit card accounts were also hacked on 28.4.2022 chalking up a total debt of RM16,296.00. He did not receive any notification for the unauthorised use of his credit card account. He only came to know about the unauthorised use 2 weeks later when the banks demanded payment from him.
Mr. Chew is puzzled as to why the bank could sms to him demanding the payment on his credit card account but failed to sms him when the credit card was hacked and used without his authorisation.
Of late, such internet banking fraud cases are getting very rampant. This has created doubts and worries about the security of banking institutions in Malaysia. It seems that the internet security systems of banks in Malaysia is so vulnerable that anyone can, without their knowledge, be subject to internet banking fraud and lose their savings for nothing.
If the country is serious about moving towards digitalisation and e-banking, the government must first ensure the security of the internet banking system which forms the foundation of the whole transformation of our country’s economy.
In fact, such internet banking fraud can be avoided if the banks improve their security systems and constantly upgrade their “fire-wall” software system. It all boils down to whether sufficient fund is allocated for such upgrading services.
As such, it is only when the banks are made to pay the innocent victims for their losses that banks will then have the incentives to invest more on their system security. Otherwise, the banks will just pass the costs to these fraud victims.
The government must act quickly, otherwise, we will continue to see such fraud cases victimising the people. Not only will we, the common people, fall victim to such fraud, the progress of the country will also be hampered as people start to lose confidence in the banking system.