KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — Staff at a Maybank branch in Kampung Baru, Penang, recently intervened to prevent a 57-year-old civil servant from losing RM150,000 to a phone scam, the bank said today.
Malayan Banking Bhd said the government contract worker by the name of Fatimah had received phone calls from a person purporting to be a bank representative and claiming her account was used for fraud.
“To further ensnare her, the caller orchestrated a series of manipulative phone calls to individuals posing as representatives from various enforcement and regulatory agencies, including the Royal Malaysia Police and Bank Negara Malaysia,” Maybank said in a statement today.
In a call lasting more than four hours, Fatimah had been instructed by the scammers to withdraw RM150,000 from her savings account at the Maybank Kampung Baru branch in Penang.
“I was shaken by the whole ordeal. At the branch, the teller performed the usual check and asked me the purpose of withdrawal. The scammer had instructed me earlier to lie and state that the money was for house renovation purposes,” Fatimah was quoted saying.
However, the branch’s assistant branch manager became suspicious and became involved.
“She guided me through the process of filing a case report with the bank, swiftly freezing my account to safeguard my hard-earned money,” said Fatimah.
Despite relentless attempts by the scammer to disrupt the proceedings with incessant calls, the assistant manager reassured Fatimah and foiled the scam.
“I am so grateful to her for going above and beyond to help me, especially since it was beyond regular branch hours,” she said.
Maybank urged the public to be vigilant and keep current on the latest scam tactics, and seek support from their banks should they suspect that they have fallen victim to scam.
The bank said that in 2023 alone, its branches had saved customers from losing RM6.4 million to various scams.
