Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad (ASNB), a subsidiary of Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and fund manager of Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB), has advised investors to be vigilant and not to divulge personal details or investment information to any unknown parties.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of ASNB, Mohammad Hussin advised investors not to entertain any calls enquiring on investment details, even if the caller claims to be a bank officer or ASNB officer. “If an investor receives a suspicious call, he or she is advised not to panic and not to make any transactions involving withdrawal of ASB or other ASNB unit trusts. For further information or clarification, the investor should contact the Agent and Customer Relationship Management Department of ASNB at 03-20573000 or contact the police directly to request for a review or lodge report,” said Mohammad.
He added, “As the unit trust fund manager with more than 229 billion units in circulation owned by more than 13.4 million unit holders, ASNB is always committed to protect investors’ money by utilising the best security measures. However, investors are advised to be aware of syndicates such as the ‘Macau Scam’, as ASNB is not able to reimburse the money withdrew by the investors after being affected by the syndicates.”
At a recent ceremony at Menara PNB, Kuala Lumpur, PNB President and Group Chief Executive, Dato' Abdul Rahman Ahmad, presented a certificate and token of appreciation of 1,000 units of Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 to the employee of one of the ASNB agents, who had successfully prevented an ASB investor from being tricked by the ‘Macau Scam’ syndicate.
In the incident, the investor had received a call from someone who claimed to be a bank officer alleging that he was involved in money laundering and instructed him to transfer RM120,000 to avoid legal proceedings. The investor panicked and went directly to the nearby ASNB agent to withdraw all his ASB investment funds to be transferred to a new account, as instructed by the caller. The investor was fortunate as his distress was observed by the employee of that ASNB agent, who took the initiative to ask him for clarification and consequently reported the incident to the police.
The modus operandi of the ‘Macau Scam’ includes the caller claiming to be a bank officer and informing victims that they are involved in crimes involving money laundering and drug trafficking, as a strategy to trick victims.
Elaborating further, Mohammad said, “Cases of fraud involving such as ‘Macau Scam’ are among the reasons why ASNB organises investment-based education programmes such as Seminar Pelaburan 360 Hari. Through such programmes, we are able to share information with the public on ASNB's investments, financial planning, products and services. At the same time, the public has the opportunity to obtain more information by asking our officers directly should they have any questions regarding ASNB.” ASNB’s Seminar Pelaburan 360 Hari which has been conducted on a daily basis since 2003, has recorded a total of 666,003 participants and held at 6,918 locations nationwide as of 30 June 2018.
