The country's top two banks have joined forces to make the fight against online banking fraud more effective.

To begin with, Maybank and CIMB Bank have taken out a series of full-page advertisements in The Star which alert the people against online banking scams.

Maybank Community Financial Services head Lim Hong Tat said the initiative was a prelude to an upcoming industry campaign on Internet banking by the Association of Banks Malaysia (ABM) in co-operation with CyberSecurity Malaysia.

“The advertisements are yet another way to make customers aware of attempts to deceive them into divulging their account details.

“We have received frequent feedback from account holders who said they often received e-mails which claimed to be from the bank, on matters relating to their account details.”

Lim stressed that Maybank never telephoned, e-mailed or sent SMSes to account holders seeking personal or account details like usernames and passwords or telling them to update their account details online.

On the Maybank2u website, users are required to click “OK” on a warning message about online scams before they are able to login to their accounts.

CIMB Bank retail financial services head Peter England said scammers were not only affecting Internet banking but also telebanking services.

“CIMB Bank and Maybank spend large sums each year to ensure that our Internet sites are safe.

“We continuously monitor suspicious transactions. However, we can't completely control the situation if customers respond to emails which are not sent from the bank or if they do not keep their computers free from viruses and malware.'

ABM executive director Chuah Mei Lin said banks “have to comply with a strict set of guidelines when offering e-banking services as well as observe the principles governing e-banking services in accordance with their risk levels”.

Federal Commercial Crimes Investigations Department (CCID) director Comm Syed Ismail Syed Azizan said police had liaison officers working with banks to monitor online banking scams, adding that a committee had been formed with ABM to deal with online and offline fraud activities.