Bursa Malaysia To Increase Scam Awareness With Weekly Online Alerts

Alex Cheong Pui Yin

5th October 2022 - 2 min read

(Image: The Malaysian Reserve/Razak Ghazali)

Bursa Malaysia has said that it will ramp up efforts to educate investors on online investment scams by starting a public awareness campaign featuring weekly online alerts and posts. This comes as many scammers have been found to misuse the stock exchange regulator’s name and logo in a bid to deceive their victims, as well as misrepresent themselves as Bursa Malaysia’s employees.

In a statement, Bursa Malaysia said that it will begin posting a series of online posts under #stayalert. Specifically, they will contain information regarding known investment scams that misuse Bursa Malaysia’s identity, including social media scams, Telegram group scams, and the use of forged letterheads and logos. Aside from educating investors, these weekly alerts will also serve as a regular reminder for the public to always remain vigilant.

Along with this announcement, Bursa Malaysia also emphasised that it will not approach members of the public with any requests to pool funds for any collective investment schemes. Instead, interested investors should invest only with licensed investment professionals.

Furthermore, Bursa Malaysia urged the public to contact the stock exchange regulator for verification if they receive any unsolicited or suspicious communications from individuals who claim to be agents of Bursa Malaysia. Affected individuals can contact Bursa via email at [email protected], or by calling 03-2732 0067.

“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,” Bursa Malaysia further said, adding that the public can visit its microsites and social media channels for latest information regarding investments, including the Bursa Marketplace and Bursa Academy.

Finally, Bursa Malaysia highlighted that statistics from the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) indicated that a total of 71,8333 scams have been reported between 2020 to May 2022, amounting to more than RM5.2 billion losses. Of the number, approximately 17% (11,875 cases) was related to loan and investment scams.

(Source: Bursa Malaysia)

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Alex Cheong Pui Yin

Previously covered recruitment-related stories and had a short stint as a copywriter for the property industry. She subsequently developed an interest in investment and robo-advisors.

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