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 April 1, 2021 @ 5:17pm
LETTER: The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) and the National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) would like to alert Malaysian consumers on sudden spike of scams related complaints and be cautious and remain alert to scams.
Scammers are becoming increasingly more sophisticated with their tactics and are hoping that you let your guard down. We urge consumers not to provide their personal, banking or any details to strangers who have approached them though phone calls.
Fomca been receiving approximately 450 complaints and enquiries related to scam since January 2021. Based on our observation, these scammers take advantage of the vulnerable consumers and surprisingly some of the victims are highly educated.
It is becoming more difficult to know and differentiate between a scam and a legitimate business. Fomca also would like to urge all relevant authorities to be more active and play their role in curbing these unscrupulous activities.
Many consumers are still not aware about scamming activities. The Communications and Multimedia Ministry and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) should play an important role to educate consumers by using their channels to reach out to the public at large.
The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry also need to publish and update frequently all scam related cases in their website so that consumers would be able to get information relating to scams. Enforcement agencies also must charge these culprits and increase fines and jail terms for these offences.
Scammers are constantly trying to steal consumers' personal data using fake emails, websites, phone calls, and even text messages. They use a variety of ways to try to trick people into providing personal information, bank account numbers, and other valuable information such as credit card numbers.
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1 April 2021
