SHAH ALAM: Police have urged banks to beef up the security system of their internet banking services to avoid infiltration by cyber criminals.
Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed said police are concerned as cyber criminals are capable of infiltrating personal data of individuals and companies to hack into bank accounts and siphoning millions of ringgit.
He cited a case reported to Selangor police last week where a local company lost RM2.9 million to cyber criminals.
“The company’s email account, which was used for online banking transactions, was hacked by cyber criminals. The scammers used the email address and sent out a message to a bank requesting for the company’s online banking username be changed.
“To substantiate the request, the crooks even attached forms with falsified signatures of the company’s officials. Without making further verification with the company officials, the bank went ahead and made changes to the online banking account username. Soon after, RM2.9 million belonging to the company was siphoned in 59 transactions. The funds were transfered to 18 mule accounts,” he said.
Arjunaidi added that in another case reported last month, a 71-year-old man lost RM6.3 million to cyber criminals in an “inheritance scam”.
He said between Dec 5 last year and Jan 24, the man had transferred the funds in 50 transactions into two mule bank accounts registered under a company.
“The banks should implement a stricter verification system when it comes to all internet banking or e-banking services they offer to avoid cyber criminals from taking advantage of it. If there are requests for any changes to be made to an online banking account, this should be verified with the account holder.”
He said a study by police showed that apart from ignorance and gullibility of victims contributing to a rise in online scams, the ease of opening mule bank accounts and mule company registrations were also another factor.
Despite awareness campaigns and regular media reports on online scams, cyber criminals continue to rake in millions, fleecing gullible and ignorant Malaysians.
Selangor police revealed yesterday that just two months into the year, 549 cases of online scams involving RM33.7 million in losses were reported in the state.
Arjunaidi said online scams and cyber crimes made up almost 74% of the total cases investigated by the state commercial crimes investigations department.