The psychology of scams and nobody is safe

image is not available — Over RM5.2 billion were lost to scams in last two years-IGP. Credit: The Star

No country or organisation is immune to cybercrimes. Everyone is a potential victim of scams. Scams are a lucrative business and an easy way to make money.

Scammers are trained in psychological manipulation, use new techniques, and are quick to hone in on the low awareness, ignorance and vulnerability of their victims.

These happen despite banks have technologies and the police warning the public about scammers impersonating bank staff and targeting victims through phone calls or the short message service (SMS) and exploit loopholes in the financial systems.

This year a 41-year-old lecturer has been cheated of RM1.3 mils and a 49-year-old man has lost RM85,000 after falling for an online investment scam.

Last August, a businesswoman lost more than RM1 million to after answering a call from the "Inland Revenue Board" and a 74-year-old woman also lost RM1.34 million to a Macau Scam after she exposed her bank account claiming that she was involved in fraud and illegal activities.

Then on Aug 30, a senior citizen lost RM1.87 million to a parcel scam after befriending a foreign woman on social media who promised to send goods and cash worth RM12.6 million to the victim.

Besides four cases of scams are occurred in Johor, Malaysia saw a worrying uptrend in the cases involved in online sales scams, online trading scams, African scams, Macau scams, Business Email Compromised (BEC) scams, fake loans and SMS scams. Over RM5.2 billion were lost to scams in the last two years.

BNM have introduced additional action to be taken by banks, to ensure that banking and payment channels remain secure:

Migrate from SMS One Time Passwords (OTP) to more secure forms of authentication for online activities or transactions;
Tightening fraud detection rules and alerting customers when activities involving their banking account is detected;
Customers will be restricted to only one mobile or device for the authentication of online banking transactions. There will also be a cooling-off period for first-time enrolments of online banking services or devices;
Setting up dedicated hotlines for customers to report financial scam incidents
Facilitate efforts to recover and protect stolen funds, including working with relevant agencies to prevent further losses and
Provide convenient ways for customers to suspend their bank accounts that have been compromised as a result of a scam and subsequently reactivate their accounts after a reasonable period to ensure that their accounts are secure.

It was noted that most scams happen due to a lack of consistent awareness and lackadaisical attitude of certain public towards online banking keep downloading fake app created by cyber criminals.

The best way of defence is education by businesses and the government to close up any loopholes for attacks and other recommended awareness campaigns to be taken by all parties to the public must include the followings:

Use verified apps only;
Browse on authorised websites only;
Use secure connections only;
Keep your passwords secret;
Be vigilant while using the card;
Do not compromise on security software for phones/computers;
Do not share personal information with anyone;
Never click on suspicious links on SMS or emails.

Bank may have all the technologies, and procedures in place in compliance with international and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) standards but sill scams happen, meaning there are loopholes in the banking systems. It requires collaborative efforts from all parties to address the issues such as BNM, PDRM, MCMC, banks, and Cyber Security experts need to identify the ring, syndicates and address some mule accounts and suspicious transactions.

The public has a role in protecting themselves from scams.

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