Scammers cosplaying as PIDM are selling ‘free’ insurance

Scam calls and texts are no surprise nowadays and, unfortunately, news of people still falling for them. Well, this writer’s mom once received a text from a scammer pretending to be a ‘Shopee staff’ offering her a job and, being the boomer she was, she replied the text but… it gets funnier from there.

Mom actually believed that Shopee was trying to hire her but wasn’t too interested because she already had a well paying job. She ended up innocently interrogating the ‘Shopee staff’ with questions about the job until they gave up and blueticked her (she got the rizz). It wasn’t until she showed the messages to us that she found out she was the potential victim of a scam.

Just like this writer’s mom, you may be unaware that something could be a scam because scammers are getting a lot more creative. So here are a few recent ones we’ve covered:

• Touch n’ Go promo scam
• Job scam (that actually pays you)

Usually these scammers use company or government agency names to fool or scare you, but with alerts from LHDN and PDRM warning people, scammers seem to have moved on to other agencies…

Scammers are now using PIDM’s name to drain your bank account

You may not know what they do, but you would have seen PIDM’s name plastered in front of every bank door and website or heard them being mentioned on the radio. PIDM basically offers FREE protection for your bank account (up to RM250k) in the event your bank goes bankrupt.

You can see where this is going.

According to a press release sent to us, scammers are pretending to be PIDM ‘agents’ to sell you ‘financial protection’. These ‘products’ can range from the already-free protection mentioned earlier, but there are also other variations such as:

• Posing as an investment agent and showing ‘investment protection certificates from PIDM’ as proof (PIDM doesn’t have investment protection)
• Telling you your investment dividend is frozen by PIDM and you’re forced to pay a protection fee to ensure that your transaction will run smoothly. (The investment itself is a scam)
• Posing as a debt collector and asking you to pay a “PIDM protection fee” before they proceed with your loans. (PIDM only protects your deposits)

So, now that we’ve covered the scams, you should also know what PIDM does so you won’t kena con if the scammers change their M.O.

Here’s what PIDM actually does

Most people think that PIDM is an insurance company but that’s false!

Perbadanan Insurans Deposit Malaysia (PIDM) is a government agency established in 2005 under the Malaysia Deposit Insurance Corporation Act and their main function is to protect your savings and takaful if your bank goes bankrupt. There are 2 systems of protection that PIDM administers:

• Deposit Insurance System (DIS) – Protects you against the loss of your insured deposits up till RM250,000 in an unlikely event that your bank goes bankrupt.
• Takaful and Insurance Benefit Protection System (TIPS) – Protects against the loss of your eligible takaful or insurance benefits up till RM500,000 in an unlikely event that your bank or insurer goes bankrupt.

Remember that PIDM’s coverage will only apply if there’s a failure within your bank. In cases of cyber attacks or frauds, you just have to say bye-bye to your money.

So now if you ever hear any instruction to pay for PIDM ‘protection fee’, you’ll know it’s a scam. You can always keep updated on PIDM’s scam reports here, or call the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) at their hotline to report any suspicious scam activities 👍🏼