I just want to share the incident that happened to me yesterday. I received a call from a woman by the name Lisa claiming she is calling on behalf of Bank Negara. She introduced herself formally and explained to me that Bank Negara is concerned for credit card users in Malaysia who overspend their limit and put themselves too deep in debt. So, Bank Negara is introducing this new "MBF Countdown Backup" card for all owners of credit cards all around Malaysia and will soon be a compulsory thing. The card, according to Lisa, will be swiped everytime a transaction is performed using your credit card and this will enable Bank Negara to monitor our spending. And in return, we will get discounts ranging from 5% to 40% for different merchants.

Then, this is where my stupidity sets in. Because she spoke to me in Bahasa Malaysia and the background noise implicates that it is a bank working environment, and above all this, she was able to readout to me my 16-digit credit card numbers and particulars and even my outstanding balance with the credit card, it convinced me that this could be a new system implemented by Bank Negara. So, when she asked for my 3-digit approval code written behind the credit card, I "STUPIDLY" gave it to her.

Then after all this was charade was over, Lisa informed me that a charge of RM480 will be charged to my credit card as a starters fee to waive off the annual fee. This woke me up!! So, I questioned Lisa on why do I need to pay for something that Bank Negara wants to implement to help the people of Malaysia (not a very noble cause). Then she explained to me that they are from a company calling on behalf of Bank Negara. And she said all the banks are well aware of this system. She then passed me over to her manager, Mr. Zakri or Mr. Z (similar to the MIB) or something. This gentleman then tries to assure me that this is not a fraud or scam.

Then after his long-winded speech about the benefits of their card (no longer Bank Negara's), I told him to hold the approval of the card as I don't need it. I told him that I will call my bank to verify this card and get back to him. He agreed to my suggestion and even gave me 2 of his contact numbers for me to get back to him (03-40422522 and 03-40424288). So, when I called both my credit card banks regarding this matter both banks told me that there was no such thing. Immediately I told that I might have fell for a fraud telephony case and wanted to cancel and suspend all my credit cards. The banks suspended my cards and agreed to send me a replacement card. Then when I called back Mr. Z at the number he gave me, a different lady attended to me and passed me on to a chinese lady who spoke in mandarin to me in a very heavy China accent. I told them that I have called my cc banks and cancelled my cards and specifically told her that I do not agree to their terms and I don't want their offer. She explained to me and assured me that they will delete my cc details and not charge me for anything. So, all this happened yesterday.

Being paranoid, I called my banks again this morning to double check if any transactions had gone through yesterday after I cancelled my card. And guess what. Those m#^*!#fkers actually did try to charge me but the banks did not let the transactions go through. I consider myself lucky coz I acted a step ahead of them.

Lesson from all of this, never ever entertain telephony offers that involve credit cards. 2 of my colleagues fell for these scams before and 1 of them was lucky enough to have the bank recognise it as a fraud case while the other 1 lost RM3000. So, SCREW ALL TELEPHONY MARKETING STRATEGISTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I heard of this happening to one of my friends as well. But she didn't fell for it. Is this common nowadays?

you could've caught it there and then.. what would a federal banking authority want to do with a commercial entity?

even CTOS/CCRIS don't keep your pin-code/authorization code..
it's sad that ignorance have made you poorer.. learn from it and and take it as a learning 'fee'.. an expensive learning 'fee'.

it will remain 'common' as long as there're gullible people out there..
rumour, hearsay, ignorance, etc.. these are all the perfect concotion for a con-job.

Pretty common as they are not only credit card marketing, even have calls from "high court" that someone who need to pay, again, with a very china mandarin slang.

As well as those sms thingy saying you got jackpot but need to back in "processing fee" lol.

Since when our goverment servents speaking mandarin?

oh, before you set on to "screw" all the telemarketing folks out there..
do yourself a favor..

make sure you set your own "screw" inside your head correctly.. before you "screw" others..

blaming others for your own inequity is equally foolish.

I agree with you. It will remain very "common" as long as the public is not properly aware of these scams. I knocked my head against the wall yesterday thinking of how stupid I was . But they caught me at a good time coz I was halfway preparing presentations and all and my brain was too occupied with many other thoughts. Lesson learned.

i disagree with you about focusing on 'stupidity'.. don't beat yourself up for a wrong cause, it's not about stupidity..

as mentioned by you, you did rationalized the situation.. thus, you've acted with some level of deliberation(aka thinking)... on the other hand, stupidity is the lack of it.

however, what you've rationalized wasn't adequate(enough).. thus it's more of a case of ignorance..

"you don't know what you don't know"... that's a blindspot.
if you choose "you don't care/want to know about what you don't know"... that's ignorance.

there're lots of good reading material out there that teaches you to understand/spot a con-job.. reading it is better than hearing from others.

credit card are not dangerous.. the owner is.

I totally accept all criticism with a open heart, and my best guess is you must be a telemarketer.

Anyway, the reason I started this thread was to warn others about this scam. Many of us are not well versed with the commerce and banking world. So, we're unaware of how the system evolves. I would encourage more advice rather than flaming (although I totally deserve it) me and please keep criticism to a minimal level.

Hmm, who might be the culprit that divulged your personal details to these crooks?

Well, according to my friend who works in Citibank, there are personnel who actually sells information to outside agents. This actually creates a doubt in me regarding the confidentiality of my details with the bank. But hey, we can't do anything about it unless we don't liaise with the bank at all.

Just keep in mind, never disclose your 3digit code to other people. If the call is from the bank, they will know the 3digit code and won't ask you to tell. For verification, they only will ask, what's your mother name, what's your IC, what's your hp number, etc...

don't guess.. let me tell you straight.. i'm not in the telemarketing business.
i learnt alot of good lessons(with minimal damage) when i saw how fluid, dynamic and cunning scams works.. during my stay abroad.

once in awhile, you'll get breakthrough/new permutations of such scams.. i'll study and pay attention to their mechanics and how they operate.. usually it's via a pretext and lots of smoke-screens

i'm glad that you treat this as a lesson.. just don't be bitter about it and bash the entire industry(telemarketing)..

on a hindsight.. it's difficult to know everything about the finance/banking fields.. but there're a few principles that you can use to help protect yourself..

reading back at your own tread... do you realized that it raises several red flags already? i may not know all the rudiments of finance but i will act upon those red flags.. that's my living principle..

you can have your own principle(s) too.. trust me, it helps build awareness and knowledge.

hmmm recently i received 2 calls in two different hp number from a chinese lady with heavy mandrin accent... i think i dun understand her well and thus nothing is communicated... where all this ppl get out numbers and more importantly credit card details... i tot we as cc holders do have some sort of confidentiality assurance from the bank???

even so why did you gave the 3 number pin ah?

Like I mentioned before. She has managed to convince me that she's calling from Bank Negara. That's why I gave her the the 3-digit approval code. So, it all comes down to the question of how did they manage to obtain my details.

Yeah..There is always people calls and ask for your credit card details. For me, I just stop them and just hung up without letting them finishing their line.

If it happen to me, normally i play around with the caller, just to waster their time with me instead of with unsuspecting user who didn't know this kind of trick, but giving false 3 digit number of course

I also nearly kena the same thing.

This ppl. are very convincing, they even know my credit card number, but I refuse to give them the 3 letter CGC (i think) numbers.

Details can be bought. There are people selling it. You got bills to pay? Yeah, someone inside will extract all the customer information and sell it to the public.

i juz wan to share my experience on this telemarketeers tactics.

Once they called me and straight away ask why i didn't collect my 'prize' at their recent roadshow in bukit jalil! i was like 'what?'.. then they said that i've entered myself on some kind of lucky draw and i've won, i was totally blur since i don even remember entering any lucky draw which requires me to collect the prize (if i've won) at bukit jalil.

so the next thing was they asked me to go to their office somewhere in shah alam. They gave me the address and a reference number and the person whom i suppose to collect my prize from.

When i asked how did i entered this competition, they said that it's automatic since i'm an active user of my credit card. Then when i said i do not own any credit card, then they TWIST the story to bonuslink card!!

After i hanged-up the phone, i figured that this is juz another scam where, if i go to that place, they'll ask me to buy something or to scratch any card and will ask me to pay something in order to redeem the prize.

I didn't go eventually and that person didn't call anymore.

----------------------------------

another experience being called by telemarketeers.

Call and offered a discount card, mentioned has many benefits, but juz tell me 3 of it and straight away ask for my credit card number. When i asked for the other benefits, he said he'll pass me all the information once i register, meaning that after i give him my details and credit card number. When i said i'm not interested, he raised his voice and start to force me to register. I put down the phone...

i totally agree with this. u are stupid.. what can i say..

nowadays receive many similar this call. for sure i ask them back, do i have credit card?
they start confuse edi then say sorry bla.. bla..

totally is a SCAM.

If I were you I would have reported to the police for fraud and scam. You have thier numbers and can easily be traced. And any transaction can be traced (credit card),it shouldn't be too hard to nail them.

have some sympathy for the guy la..

at least he is willing to share with us what happened to him so we won't be conned.

Hi TS,

Thx for sharing..

Thank you for making me feel appreciated, @lice~~ and williamlee_1985.

Makes me wonder why the flamers exist. To all the other forumers out there, if you have nothing nice to say, STFU!!!!!!!!!

No need to bother abt them.. one day they kena they wil know..

Myself oso nearly kena conned by those "hong kong company" but speak in Mandarin.. but they juz ask for my bank account no n ask me to bank in some amount of money to them b4 i can gain my prize..

Yeah, hopefully more people will realize that these scams can get to you sometimes even if you are aware of such scams and fraud cases. But I pity those people who got suckered into by these scams (I nearly became one myself).

Anyone who is a merchant has a good chance of getting ur cc number. For some shops i notice merchant copy that u sign on has the full 16 digits uncensored, whereas customer copy is 12 censored, 4 last digits uncensored.

This post has been edited by ceo684: Jun 13 2007, 05:45 PM

i also kena few times b4 ade lo.... speak to me in mandarin... im being a banana dint understand wut they saying.... told them to speak in english... they hesitated and say thank you, sorry for disturbing and put down the phone.

privacy in malaysia is no longer private. everything has a value. as long as u meet that value, anything can be given or sold. P&C information is some sort of a product now....

any y is so many ppl falling victim to scams? one word... not stupidity.... its simply GREED.

This post has been edited by chloelew: Jun 13 2007, 05:56 PM

i will be easily cheat by these guys.. so convincing!
!

anyone call asking for cc details and bank details just say not interested and put down the phone but sometimes its hard to judge....just got to be quick thinking bout this things....

old ppl esp mothers.... becareful if u ever go wet market (pasar) buy things.... if meet those china or foreign lady just becareful.... my grandma's fren kena...cheras area... buy vege then 2 china lady came up to her... pat her in the back then ask her weather she got money or not..... like hypnotise ade.... bring them back to the house gave them the bank acc book. RM10k from acc gone that same day.... dangerous this pukau stuff....

TS, lucky you didnt fall for it. actually u can go report police if im nt wrong..

This post has been edited by bryanyeo87: Jun 13 2007, 09:05 PM

Yeah, my gf is pestering me to do so. But I'm quite lazy to go and give my testimonial to the police and wait for them to go through the necessary procedures. Don't even know whether will they investigate my case or not or just take my report just for the sake of taking my report.

10 minutes only mar...then can see the posters warning of this scam near the atm machines like the akedemi fantasia thing lolz

Actually after reporting your case to the police, if they deem justified for a report, will count more of a statistic of what happened, since no actual crime was committed. If the statistics do not rise, they will not act upon it with urgency, but if it gets publicity in the papers and if a "Datuk" also got cheated, then maybe it will speed up their action. So don't expect any action just because you reported it, because it will need several more reports to actually stir interest or increase its priority. Thats my view about reporting about an 'almost crime'.

TS i salute you! unlike some others who dont appreciate and only know how to flame people for sharing their experience..

I've received such called in the past too, especially when they called and straight away know your name.. But my case was slightly different i believed, the caller straight away called out a muslim guy name and my reaction is like "huh" i think you've called the wrong number because i am a chinese.. and the caller just puzzle and question me moreover it lead to a new clue,till now i still wondering why that smart alex(muslim guy) impost by using my mobile number to fill up his particular

lucky bro....

i got once get 1 call.... when im 1st say helo, she asked me do u know to speak Mandarin?

know lah... then i immediately cut the line... story finished...

disturbing me working only nia

I also received a disturbing call while working. God! It's a survey from a learning centre. Damn!

basically people are getting desperate nowadays...signs of worse things to come...

I think if these bastards catch me in a bad time for me, I could fall for the scam too.

But yeah, giving 3 false numbers would be a good move. Their constant charging of your card with 3 wrong numbers should raise some suspisions at the credit card companies, I hope.

Define your bad time?

Does he mean bed time?

just read the story.. dunno they got do like that. I know there are ppl pretending to be BNM agents moving around and cheat ppl.

macam macam pun ade. The problem is BNM know about this company but no action taken one. why no ppl complained.

Well, BNM should take an extreme action like SC did to ban all the online illegal investment scums.

Yeah, they caught me while I was busy preparing my presentation, concentrating real hard on my points and plotting diagrams to prove my points. Then suddenly someone from BNM calls!!! Mesmerized me for a moment.

But now I gotta learn to totally ignore people who call me through the phone and asking for credit card details. .... Lesson learnt...

hi u should try to complain to the BNM then they will take action else others will kena again and again.

Bad time can be a time when you're feeling down, or lack of sleep, or a day when you woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and everything goes wrong.

I think there are times or days when we're mentally weakened.

in other words, blur blur la. lol

Complain to BNM??? Now I don't know to go about that. Hahahah..... ... Anyone has the BNM hotline???

phat_newbie, you have a very close call, lucky for you, you managed to cancel all your old cards and received new ones.

If you think back a minute, how did they get your info in the first place?
Who would have given them all your CC info and all they need is just your the verification code to make nail you?

It is most likely a) your own CC bank or b) the merchants that you whom you have shop a lot may have kept records of your CC numbers.

Here's what you need to do, call your CC bank and ask them for their privacy disclosure policy and ask them how you can opt-out from their reseller list. Simply, do not allow them to sell your information to 3rd party, or simply take your business elsewhere. They may require you to send in some paperwork, if so, just do it.

Rotate your CC numbers every 3-6 months, ask your CC to generate new numbers, or simply report lost card so that any merchants who may have keep copies of your last transaction will no longer find it valid.

Check around to see for reputable credit report agency or banks in Malaysia and see if you can find ways to check your own credit records; make sure it lists only the credit cards that you actually own.

I think I saw a report from Mastercard or Visa, there are high number credit cards fraud in Malaysia and a lot of online merchants just don't like do to business with Malaysians (even though they have good credit) just because of this situation.

This post has been edited by netfan: Jun 14 2007, 12:53 PM

Yeah, your suggestion sounds good. I'll call up my bank and check with them their confidentiality policy. Otherwise, I'll just follow your plan and rotate cc's annual or something.

I guess the best is just use 1 credit card from 1 reputable bank.

And use cash mostly. At least it keeps you from being in debt and it is quite safe.

Just don't show off too much

PS: I don't use a credit card myself. Anyway these days, even the bank officers in the bank could obtain these CC info easily and sold them.

This post has been edited by uniglo: Jun 14 2007, 06:36 PM

to netfan,
Rotate your CC numbers every 3-6 months, ask your CC to generate new numbers, or simply report lost card so that any merchants who may have keep copies of your last transaction will no longer find it valid.

this sound like a good idea...but will there be any fee for a new replace lost cards?

i'm a newbie will CC...thanks..

Feel free to call your bank and ask. Most will do it for free as courtesy and to keep you as customer. You are more valuable to them than a few replacement cards, and if they want to charge you, talk to the supervisor or manager and state that you've a suspected fraud case and you may already been paying them an annual fee to use their card and it is in their best interest to keep you as customer and them free of trouble. Do shop around.. CC is a very competitive business and believe me, banks want your business!

Not all banks wil practise this. When I called up to cancel my cc, my first bank agreed to replace my cc for free because I suspected my card to be involved in a fraud scam. However, my second bank insisted that I have to pay for my 2 cc's with them, which will cost me RM100 for both cc's. I tried negotiating with them and speaking to their supervisor as well but they did not want to waive this fee. So, in the end I cancelled both cards from the second bank and they willingly accepted my suspension although I am a good paymaster.

netfan,

hmmm very fresh idea... this is my 1st time heard this... will keep in mind...

btw, i wanna ask, i got a few cards, which 1 bank 2 cards visa and master... and currently im just actively using 1 card, while others i keep in Freeze....

so my questions is, if i rotate, can i just put my card aside and use others? does this help?

or your meaning is i have to CANCEL the card...

nice info.. thank you for sharing..

Guys today i get a phone called, is from a chinese lady tone. But this time round they very smart. These people are using automatic voice recording, as long you didnt hang up the phone they will keep on repeating the same thing non stop.. Dont quite understand the subject of the called, but is something regarding about the "Court" after the speech; if my memory dont failed me they will ask you to press #9 to listen for more information. My alertness tell me that this is a scam, because the court wont simply call people. Moreover i didnt even give people my telephone number beside my mobile number

How ironic how did they manage to know telephone number was it TM

This post has been edited by Gaia: Jun 16 2007, 01:02 AM

is it safe using credit card online ???

means to buy things?

is there any fraud case happen..

please share.. just to be more carefull.. how to prevent it ?

i cant believe anyone would fall for such a low tech social engineering scam.....

always believe in the infamous XFiles Motto

TRUSTNO1

yes... there is ...

Visa Verified

or Master what what forget lioa....

btw, for the visa verified, not all bank is offering for it. my OCBC, UOB din have this visa verified....

while HSBC, yes, there is....

For Visa, it's called Verified by Visa.

For Mastercard, it'll be Mastercard Securecode

However, not every banks has it. So for I come across only HSBC has it. Any Citibank users could confirm this? How about Maybank?

CItibank dun have these..... i think they have their own security measure lol...

The star thing on the physical card?

Their Internet banking is quite lousy from what I heard. The onscreen keyboard thing. Still got?

This post has been edited by David83: Jun 16 2007, 11:13 PM

I just went to settle my last payment for my out-standing balance yesterday with HSBC after I cancelled it. This is what happened when I was at the Bayan Baru, Penang branch.

Went up to the counter and said I want to make my last payment for my cc as I have already cancelled the card. The counter receptionist took my cc to access my information and told me my outstanding balance, but she said that I cannot pay for it yet as the status of my cc is "Transferred". So, being blur I asked her what does it mean by "Transferred". She said that it means that my card is not cancelled, but a replacement is being sent to me. But I remember asking the hotline personnel telling me that they won't send me a replacement card without charging me the RM50 replacement fee which I refused to pay. That was the reason why I chose to cancel the card.

So, I explained the scenario to her regarding my conversation with the hotline personnel. She listened to my explanation but gave me the same answer again, "Sir, you cannot settle you out-standing balance yet as you have not received your replacement card". That got on my nerve as I have waited nearly 45 minutes to be attended to and she told me I cannot settle my out-standing. So, I called for her supervisor and complained a whole lot while making a big scene out of this. I told her supervisor to call their central, get my replacement card number for me to settle my out-standing. She did just that and I finally got to settle my bill, but she told me that I did not initiate for any cancellation through their hotline as it is not recorded in their central system. Not wanting to explain any further, I just thanked them, apologized for my rudeness and walked away.

After getting back to my office, I called up the hotline once more and had them check the status of my card. And I was told that my card has been cancelled as stated in the status and I can make my settlement using the previous card. And at the same time, my replacement cards are being sent to me. So, I questioned him regarding the incident I just encountered in one of their branches, and the replacement card thing (how I was told that they won't replace my card when I refused to pay for the replacement fee, but still sent a replacement after I specifically told them I want to cancel it), and also the contradiction between the information obtained by their branches and the hotline central. How can they be "The World's Local Bank", when they can't even cover just the Bayan Lepas area in Penang??? Stupid slogan for them to use. Raised my voice during the conversation and told them off...

Finally after all this, I still received their replacement cards (both Visa & Master) this morning. .... Took out a pair of scissors, cut both cards in 4 or 5 sections and threw it into the dustbin.

I called that the power of POS. I encounter 1 time where I can't even charge my credit card after I settle the payment in the morning. When I call, they said that I haven't settle my over limit bill.

HSBC sucks in this way but I think we cannot blame the company but the person that handling our transaction.

I strongly feel that the IT system personnel handling the information collection and synchronization of their central system is not effective. So many miscommunication internally making us customers confused. Really gets up your nerves trying to talk some senses into them sometimes. And the best part is everytime when you call their hotline, they will always specify that our conversation is being recorded for reference purposes. But I think they never refer to any of the recorded conversations at all. Stupid system......

phat_newbie, well, I have the bad experiences with HSBC Bayan Baru branch. The integrity of the information given between staffs are not accurate and parallel! Stupid!


This post has been edited by David83: Jun 19 2007, 09:36 PM

Seems like Maybank also implemented Verified by Visa and Mastercard Securecode.

http://www.maybank2u.com.my/consumer/onlin...bout_msos.shtml

I'm not very sure if my case were the same but I had similar incident whr appears as a scam.

There was a China lady (not sure her name ) but she mentioned she represents Macau International Tourism in malaysia and they are here to promote Macau.

So, she asked for my details but I insist that I'm not intrested. I did asked where she got my hp number and she mentioned from some list in Hong Kong.

After I hang up on her.. I called Macau tourism in Macau and also called Macau tourism in Malaysia and apparently NO event or exhibition going on in Malaysia on any lucky draw.

Therefore, please be aware that we should not provide any personal particulars over the phone. If you are interested, call the company itself or VISIT them directly. Just tell that to caller.

Else we will ->>

They call you and you straight tell them to eat s**t

They have no good things to offer at all. They only know how to con people because they believe in their own speaking skills.(I'll consider that stupid skills instead )

I always wonder, will all the employees working in bank could access our details on the cc or certain personnel only? Same goes to our bank balance as in how much money we got in our account? Will they know? Can they access our accounts without informing us?

How about those employees working in banks handling their customer's database structuring? They could know everything by just searching our names? Or have to go through certain procedure before they could access our information as in approval from their manager on what purpose they need to access certain person's account or credit card details?

Yes, once they logged in the system, they can look on whatever information, personel information, total deposits, account balance, joint name with whom etc.

For cashier, might be not able to access all without officer passwords or permission, but for customer relationship officer or relaltionship manager, yes, they can access almost all of your details or information.
By right, all the information are confidential and cannot reveal to others or thrid party.

This post has been edited by cherroy: Jul 4 2007, 02:16 PM

Lolz, I juz received a so called "promotion" call from a con telemarketer (a malay lady)... She said she was from Vector Armada and has a benefit card related to MBF Countdown etc etc.... At 1st, she asked me for the expiry date of my credit card becoz I said I have a HSBC mastercard (actually I havent got it yet )
Then I shut her off said I dont wanna listen to her ady since she's asking for my card's detail, then she back off abit and I let her continue....

While she continued her story of all the benefits of her discount card, I was in front of my laptop searching information of her company as well as the MBF Countdown program and then I stumbled on to this thread... Good effort by TS (phat_newbie) for sharing his/her xperience with us....

At the end I juz say "I Dont Want" and the telemarketer end the conversation politely...how nice of her...

This post has been edited by KeyWest: Apr 14 2010, 09:38 PM