Banks in Malaysia recognised 68 employees from 14 institutions at the Bank Heroes Recognition Event 2026, held under the #JanganKenaScam campaign. The recognised staff collectively contributed to preventing more than RM139 million in fraudulent transactions in 2025 through identifying suspicious activity and intervening in potential scam cases.
The event, now in its second year, is organised by the Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) and the Association of Islamic Banking and Financial Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM) in collaboration with the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP). The campaign was first launched in 2023 as a nationwide scam awareness initiative. The participating banks recognized at the event include Agrobank, Alliance Bank, AmBank, Bank of China, Bank Islam, Bank Muamalat, Bank Simpanan Nasional, CIMB, HSBC, Maybank, OCBC, Public Bank, RHB, and UOB.
RM1.19bn In Fraud Stopped Across Malaysia
Syed Ahmad Taufik Albar, Chairman of the National Taskforce to Combat Fraud and Group CEO of Community Financial Services at Maybank, said bank staff have played a role in detecting suspicious activity and preventing fraudulent transactions before losses occur. He noted that fraudulent transaction attempts blocked in 2025 rose by 46% compared to 2024, with the total value of prevented transactions reaching RM1.19 billion (a three-fold increase year-on-year).
Commissioner of Police Dato Rusdi bin Mohd Isa, Director of the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID), said: “The RMP values the strong collaboration and continued support from the banking industry in combating commercial crimes and scams. Through close cooperation and information sharing, banks and law enforcement agencies have strengthened efforts to better protect the public against evolving scam threats.”
Stories Of “Bank Heroes” Preventing Fraud Cases
The event provided two of the many stories that prevented scams from occurring – the first one involves branch cashier Muhammad Nabil Fikri bin Rosdin at Maybank Menara PNB Service Center, who questioned a customer attempting to withdraw RM200,000 in cash shortly after transferring the amount from an ASB account, claiming the funds “were needed to pay his wife’s housing loan.”
The customer, who had received repeated calls during the visit, initially declined to explain the withdrawal’s purpose before revealing he had been instructed by a caller posing as a bank officer to deposit the funds into a “safe account” related to a fraud investigation. Assistant Branch Manager Latifah binti Hamzah escalated the matter to the Fraud Management Unit, which confirmed no such officer existed, leading the customer to cancel the withdrawal.
For the second story, we’re looking at an employee successfully saving a potential scam in the victim’s investments. At HSBC Bangsar, a customer sought to transfer RM740,000 across three accounts as part of an e-commerce investment scheme introduced through social media; branch staff checked the beneficiary accounts via the Semak Mule Portal and found all three flagged as mule accounts.
With this information, Premier Financial Guide Jade Tan and the branch manager informed the customer of the risk, but he initially insisted on proceeding. The branch had to take drastic measures by blocking his internet banking access and debit card whilst continuing to counsel him, eventually persuading him to halt the transfers and protecting an additional RM1.9 million held in his HSBC account.
Anti-Scam Tools and Industry Initiatives
To combat the ever-worsening scammer epidemic, several anti-scam features have since been implemented. For starters, the Money Vault (or Money Lock) feature has been used by more than 38,000 customers, securing over RM600 million in protected accounts, while Malware Shielding capabilities have helped prevent over 60,000 malware-related scam attempts, involving approximately RM22 million in potential losses. The better-known feature is the “Kill Switch” function, which have been activated by around 300,000 users, contributing to the prevention of close to RM7 million in potential losses.
Some banks also implement self-service security tools which allow customers to perform account security health checks within banking apps and take corrective action based on recommended practices. They have also introduced tools for monitoring devices, sessions, and login activity. These measures are accompanied by ongoing cybersecurity education efforts, particularly targeted at small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to address phishing and scam risks.
Pokdepinion: Sixty-eight people stood between Malaysians and RM139 million walking straight into a scammer’s pocket, which says a lot about how vulnerable we are.
