KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 — Bursa Malaysia Bhd said it has recently seen an increase in reports of investment scams, with scammers now found to have misused the Bursa Malaysia name and logo, as well as misrepresenting themselves as employees of the exchange.
Hence, the stock exchange regulator is advising the public to be more vigilant when approached by parties misrepresenting themselves as having the exchange’s endorsement or as its employees and to only follow Bursa Malaysia’s official social media channels.
"Bursa Malaysia urges the public to be wary and alert of online investment scams.
"Given the increasing number of scam cases, it is important for investors to have the right investment knowledge and tools in order to make informed decisions and easily identify fraudulent activities," it said in a statement today.
In an effort to ensure the public is continuously alerted to scams, the exchange will commence a series of online posts at #stayalert on a weekly basis about different types of investment scams misrepresenting Bursa Malaysia.
The #stayalert initiative is part of Bursa Malaysia’s public service initiatives to educate members of the public against investment scams, which includes its ongoing ‘Sens-Ability,’ a financial and investment literacy programme.
Additionally, Bursa Malaysia said it would like to remind the public that the exchange will not request them to pool funds for any collective investment scheme and that they should only invest with licensed investment professionals.
The exchange said if they receive unsolicited or suspicious communications relating to, or claiming to be agents of Bursa Malaysia, they should email bursa2u@bursamalaysia.com or call 03-2732 0067 to authenticate the content of any such communication.
Malaysia has seen a drastic increase in online scams over the last two years during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the police’s commercial crimes investigation department, a total of 71,833 scams, amounting to more than RM5.2 billion in losses, were reported from 2020 until May 2022.
Among the cases reported, 11,875, or 17 per cent, were related to loan and investment scams.
— Bernama
