EPF funds safe

PETALING JAYA: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has assured its members that attempts by scammers or hackers to access their accounts will fail as it has a robust online security mechanism in place.

In response to concerns over fraudulent withdrawals by scammers and alleged weaknesses in the i-Sinar application process, EPF said it will continue to work closely with relevant authorities to ensure prompt action is taken against any irresponsible third parties attempting to access members’ funds illegally.

EPF urged members to practise vigilance, caution and confidentiality when applying to withdraw from their savings under the i-Sinar programme.

On March 7, a 28-year-old assistant nurse from Shah Alam lodged a police report after she found an unauthorised attempt to withdraw cash from her EPF account through i-Sinar.

It is learnt that the woman was in the process of applying for a withdrawal through the programme when she found that there had been a prior application registered with her MyKad number and telephone number several days earlier.

The woman claimed she quickly carried out checks using her EPF i-Akaun facility and found that there was an unauthorised i-Sinar transaction of RM5,000.

She then checked two of her bank accounts and found that the cash had not been deposited yet.

On checking her i-Akaun again, she discovered an unknown bank account number had been registered under the EPF i-Lestari facility.

She subsequently managed to uncover the identity of the bank account holder, whom she did not know.

It is learnt that EPF had rejected the withdrawal as the bank account number did not match that of the woman’s.

Shah Alam police chief ACP Baharudin Mat Taib said investigations are ongoing.

EPF advises its members to report any suspicious activity on their EPF accounts through the i-Sinar hotline at 03-8922 4848 or the EPF Contact Management Centre at 03-8922 6000.

Source: TheSunDaily