Despite news warnings and efforts to reduce instances of scam in the last 5 years, it’s alarming how a significant number of Malaysians still fall prey to scams.
In fact, a 2016 study conducted by Telenor group found that Malaysia was ‘the most vulnerable country to internet scams’ between India, Thailand and Singapore.
Since HelloGold started in 2015, we’ve been frequently asked:
“Is HelloGold safe?” “Is it legit?” “HelloGold penipu ke?”
Your protection and financial safety is always a priority to us so we’ve prepared 3 tips to ensure you don’t fall victim to elaborate online scams.
End phone calls from fake bank authorities
There have been many cases of Malaysians receiving phone calls from fake bank authorities requesting for their security information.
A typical scenario happens as follows:
- The victim receives a phone call from a commercial bank requesting verification for a fake credit/debit card purchase
- When the victim informs no such transaction has taken place, the scammer will advise the victim to lodge a report to a fake email or number usually posing as a formal investigations department
- The fake bank authority will then advise the victim to transfer his/her money to a third-party account in order to ‘freeze’ or lock the account for security purposes
- Alternatively, the fake bank authority will request security information regarding the victim’s credit/debit card
IMPORTANT: Banks and HelloGold will NEVER request for your CVV number, PIN, password or private information over the phone or email. This may seem obvious enough but many have fallen victim to online scam under pressure.
End phone calls from fake police
Some of the most elaborate scams are carried out by people impersonating police authorities. Fake police scams are usually part of fake bank authority scams, where scammers will pretend to be carrying out an investigation in order to get you to transfer ‘evidence’ to them.
This approach is scary because many wouldn’t question the police out of fear.
According to Uihua from www.asklegal.my, police authorities will never conduct investigations over the phone as this is illegal. They can use Section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Code to get you to physically show up at the police station for a statement, which means that you never have to disclose any private/personal security information over the telephone.
IMPORTANT: NEVER respond to phone calls from ‘police’ claiming to be carrying out an investigation. If you are indeed involved in an on-going investigation, you can always call the respective police station for verification or visit the station in person. The police will never conduct investigations via phone calls because they legally have to take your statement in writing, print it out and have you sign it. Another tip is to always ask for their police ID number, full name and specific department they work for.
Avoid Work-at-Home Scams
How many of us have actually looked for part-time jobs online hoping to earn a little extra money? You’ve probably come across job postings for ‘brand ambassadors’, ‘part-time typist’, and infamous ‘work-at-home data entry’ positions wondering if they are legitimate jobs./
Ads online usually look like this:
“Earn RM300 – RM1,000 a week!”
“Work from home, cyber cafe, offices, colleges or anywhere you like!”
“Start anytime – Set your time schedule and be your own boss!”
This is a typical setup where scammers will ask you to pay a nominal fee around RM50-150 for a ‘starter’ or ‘beginner’s’ kit. Scammers will inform you that it’s for online resources to train you and help you get started. Most even go so far as to providing you with details of a seemingly legitimate bank account number to get you to transfer your money to them.
Vulcan Post does a good job exploring the truth behind all these infamous work-at-home jobs as Ponzi-like schemes.
IMPORTANT: As the saying goes, if it’s too good to be true it probably is. There’s no such thing as easy money that isn’t suspicious or illegal in nature.
No legitimate job will ask you to pay upfront for any resources, material or training to get started.
Your protection and financial security is HelloGold’s top priority
We employ state of the art industry standard practices to ensure your private data is encrypted and that your gold is safe & secured in a vault.
