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 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 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.

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.

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.

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!!!!!!!!!

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).

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.

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...

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

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.

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.

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 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......