Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has warned Malaysians that sharing bank account passwords or PIN numbers with close friends will increase the risk of online fraud, including being used knowingly or unknowingly as “mule accounts” to perpetrate fraud. Worse, BNM Deputy Governor Jessica Chew Cheng Lian in a statement revealed that Malaysians have been observed to have a low level of digital financial literacy “which is deeply concerning”.
The BNM Deputy Governor made that remark based on the results from the 2021 Financial Capability and Inclusion Demand Side Survey (FCI Survey) which yielded several damning findings. According to Bernama, among the findings include how 1 in 3 individuals surveyed would be willing to share their bank account passwords or PIN numbers with close friends.
Besides that, almost two-thirds of individuals surveyed said that they do not pay attention to the security features of a website before they perform online transactions. In other words, most of those surveyed do not bother to check whether the page they are making payments on is legitimate and trusted or not.
As a result, these individuals are far more likely to be deceived into providing their banking credentials through a fake website. This in turn enables scammers to use their information to commit fraud.
Moreover, the BNM Deputy Governor iterated that using mobile devices and apps inappropriately has also led individuals to fall victim to fraud such as phishing, hacking and data theft. Hence, through the Financial Literacy Month (FLM) 2022 happening throughout this October, BNM aims to amplify the importance of digital financial literacy in helping Malaysians build financial resilience, and enable them to participate fully in the digital economy with confidence.
FLM2022 will run throughout this month with various programmes on financial literacy lined up with Financial Education Network (FEN) Mobile visiting 61 locations nationwide. For more information on FLM2022, do visit its official website here.
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