Local banks have claimed that scam awareness alerts have proven effective in helping foil fraudsters and protect bank customers, according to a survey conducted by the Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM).
Findings from the survey show that there is a positive correlation between scam education and the prevention of scams, with four out of five customers who have successfully avoided scams also actively reading scam alerts from their banks, making them up-to-date on the latest scam tactics.
The Perception Survey on Financial Scams which was commissioned by the banking industry and conducted by Rakuten Insights from June to July 2023, brought to light encouraging statistics on respondents’ level of scam understanding and interesting insights on their views on financial scams. According to ABM, close to 80% of the respondents believe that scams happen due to victims inadvertently revealing their banking information to fraudsters and not due to any breach in banking systems.
More than half of the respondents feel capable to manage and handle financial scams. In addition, those who always read and understand banks’ scam awareness alerts are shown to be 15% more prepared to fight scams. About 70% of the respondents are satisfied with the banks’ current efforts in creating awareness about financial scams
“The evolution of scams present new challenges to banks and customers alike, as fraudsters adjust manipulation tactics to suit current banking or shopping trends. In response to these dynamic challenges, banks have continued to demonstrate an unwavering commitment to protecting our customers’ financial well-being by introducing enhanced security measures
regularly, on top of a national scam awareness campaign to educate the masses,” said ABM Chairman Dato’ Khairussaleh Ramli.
The survey also pointed out online banking websites and push notifications on mobile banking applications are the most effective channels to deliver scam alerts, compared to SMSes, emails and social media posts. With more customers embracing digitalisation in their everyday lives and becoming increasingly comfortable to bank using digital platforms,
usage on these channels has grown, making banking websites and applications the natural choice to disseminate scam messages.
The survey was participated by over 1,200 bank customers. It also highlighted potential areas of improvement for banks, particularly in providing sufficient information to selected customer segments who may not have ready access to anti-scam materials, such as the elderly and the less technologically savvy.
