What I am going to relate below is my personal experience with credit card fraud. I hope to pass this message out so you will take necessary precautions to prevent any financial loss and identity theft.
Feel free to pass this message on to your contacts if you think it will help raise their awareness on credit card fraud.
It started with a simple sms...
Translation:
AXXXXX: Respected client, On 5/10/08 you have used your credit card at IOI Mall for amount RM4966, transaction code:CH875A, please make payment as soon as possible. Tel:03-79520900
I was alarmed to receive this sms because firstly, I have cancelled my credit card with this bank a few years ago and secondly, I have not been to IOI Mall for a long time.
Immediately I called the number stated in the sms and a Mr Tan picked up my call. He claims he works for the Customer Service Department of AXXXXX located at PJ.
It started with a simple sms...
Translation:
AXXXXX: Respected client, On 5/10/08 you have used your credit card at IOI Mall for amount RM4966, transaction code:CH875A, please make payment as soon as possible. Tel:03-79520900
I was alarmed to receive this sms because firstly, I have cancelled my credit card with this bank a few years ago and secondly, I have not been to IOI Mall for a long time.
Immediately I called the number stated in the sms and a Mr Tan picked up my call. He claims he works for the Customer Service Department of AXXXXX located at PJ.
Mr Tan told me that a person has applied for a Gold Master credit card from the bank on August 16, 2008 at their branch with a credit limit of RM5,000. This person used a home address at Taman Meru Utama, Klang on the application form.
On November 2, 2008, this person has swiped for the amount RM4966 using the credit card.
When I informed him that I did not apply for the card and that someone else has fraudulently used my identity, he asked me to call Bank Negara (the Central Bank) to report on this matter and to request Bank Negara to conduct an investigation and to issue an instruction to AXXXXX to suspend the credit card account. Meanwhile, he will notify his supervisor and they will conduct their own investigation on this matter.
He kindly gave me the Bank Negara's number to call: 03-79661004 and specifically asked me to call this number.
Now I am really sure something fishy is going on because Bank Negara is located at KL but he gave me a number with a different area code. Another thing is that, with the necessary approvals, the bank itself can suspend the account without going through Bank Negara I am sure.
After that, I asked Mr Tan a few questions relating to the bank's procedures on credit card transactions but he gave unsatisfactory answers. He kept asking me to call Bank Negara to report my case.
To find out more (or just plain curious) I went along with his advice and called the number he gave me and a Chinese lady called Carmen picked up the call. She continued speaking in Malay to me though I replied her in English. Very odd.
I briefly told her that I want to report on a credit card fraud whereby someone used my identity to apply for a credit card with AXXXXX and used the card last year.
After that, we went through a simple Q&A session of who, what, when, where, why, how...
Then it came to the last question... she asked me to disclose all my ATM and credit card numbers with all the banks I currently hold....
I ask her why she need this information. Her reply was... when Bank Negara run a check on all the credit card and bank accounts under my name, they will be able to know if the syndicate used my identity to apply for credit cards from other banks and suspend those accounts also (is that so?).
I then ask her if it is necessary for me to personally go to Bank Negara to fill a form with these information instead but she says... no, it is not necessary. After that, I told her that I do not have the numbers with me because I am currently not at home.
Told her that I will call back again the next day with the information because it is close to the end of their office hours (ie. 5pm). She then gave me a reference number, saying that I just need to call back with the information and provide the reference number so that I do not need to go through the whole process again.
She also reminded me, as a precaution, not to inform anyone, including my family members, about this matter for 3 days. This was the time needed for Bank Negara to conduct an investigation on my case. The reason being that they were afraid that someone close to me might be behind this fraud.
Don't you feel they are really good at making you feel fearful of financial and identity loss and distrustful of the people around you, so that they can milk out the information they need from you?
After that, I called up the telephone directory assistance and asked for the telephone numbers of the PJ branch of AXXXXX and Bank Negara. Not surprising... the numbers do not match.
I called the two numbers a few days later but was unable to get through...
When I called the Contact Center for AXXXXX at 1300-80-XXXX, the person who picked up my call checked and confirmed that I do not have any active accounts with the bank.
She also told me previously there were cases in which people got duped in the same manner by this syndicate. Some of them have even lodged police reports.
With the current economic downturn, there are many unscrupulous people going around preying on unsuspecting victims for financial gains instead of earning money legally.
Please be very careful and remember to never disclose your personal, credit cards and banking accounts information to anyone.
Best regards,
