This is a story of how a young woman in her 20s was a victim of a debit card scam, realizing only after she received a call from her bank.
Nora, 27, is a young Malaysian remote worker, who works in a US-based company, living in KL. She recently found out that she was being scammed for the past 8 months without knowing it.
She received a call from her bank just a week ago, asking if she was in Taiwan, as the bank said there was suspicious activity on her bank account with card transactions being done both in Taiwan and Malaysia on the same day. The catch? She never lost her debit card. She still has it with her.
According to Nora, she suspects that her card details were swiped when she used it to hold a room at a hotel in Ipoh where she stayed a while back. “It was the only time the card was out of my sight” recalls Nora, who had to show her card at the reception as it was the card that was used to book the room.
“The receptionist said they needed to photocopy the card and took it to another room” she shares, noting she was not alarmed as it is common practice in other places she has been to.
How did she not notice she was being scammed?
Each of the transactions were done in small nominal amounts, between RM19.99 to RM49.99 each time, sometimes multiple times a day, and not every day. “I don’t check my bank statements usually” she mentions, noting that it’s a habit that will change now.
After receiving the call from the bank, she noted that she also realized that the bank never sent her OTP (One Time Passwords) for those transactions. She found it weird as all of her other transactions, she would also get a notification of payment.
Now, she says she takes precautions by using multiple different bank accounts as well as different e-wallets to make payments in her day-to-day so it’s easier to track her spending and savings separately.
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