Scammers are everywhere.
We know because you are constantly telling us about them. Particularly those that are “borrowing” our brand to fool unsuspecting victims.
While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery as the saying goes, it would have been nice if these scammers would use a competing brand instead, but here we are.
So, we decided to engage with one of these scammers to find out how it works and what you’re all dealing with and share what we went through with our readers here as a learning experience for everyone.
In other words, we tried to get scammed.
First contact
This latest iMoney imposter happens to be this page called ‘iMoney-Credit Card Redemption’. It has all the hallmarks of a good scam, including using a close copy of our company logo in their Facebook page display picture.
Since it’s on Facebook, we decided to reach out to them through Messenger to find out more. We inquired about credit cards – because that’s what the name implies. Honestly, they really should have chosen a clearer name because we were originally under the impression that they were trying to steal personal information or charge people obscene amounts as a processing fee.
Instead, we were greeted with a wall of Chinese text. This was clearly a test because nobody on the team can read Chinese.
We tried to deliberately use poor language to make ourselves look like a more tempting target.
However, it turns out that these people aren’t interested in dealing with people who do not have credit cards. They also actively turn unsuspecting people who don’t have a credit card away.
The real scam
So we tried again, with a different FB profile to see how it works if you do show up with a credit card. In this case, they ask for seemingly innocent information – full name, phone number, and credit card limit.
Of course, the real scam comes during the phone call. This is where the scammer tried to get us to read out our credit card number and Card Verification Value (CVV) number.
We weren’t going to hand over anything more than we already have and stopped the conversation right there.
Then we reported the page to Facebook for being a scam.
What we found out about the scammer
Whoever is behind the scam put a lot of work into making it look like a legitimate iMoney-managed page. They added to the deception by sharing posts and promotions from legitimate brands. Not to mention that they remembered to steal our motto for their own ‘About’ section.
Overall, it’s pretty convincing and we can’t blame people for getting fooled. We were impressed at the amount of effort put into the scam.
However, there were some telltale signs that give it away. The first one is the fact that it doesn’t have any posts before December 4, 2020. As a company the real iMoney has been around for over eight years. For regular users of our company website and services, this should be the first sign that you’re not at the right Facebook page.
Additionally, the contact information for the website and email are also wrong. We’re at iMoney.my, not iMoney.com.my; although the average consumer would be forgiven for making that mistake. The contact email is a similarly worded copy that may fool unsuspecting new users. You can instead contact us through this helpful form on our website, and certainly not at info@imoney.com.
The biggest giveaway that it’s not iMoney is that we won’t ask for your personal information over Facebook Messenger. We have a dedicated website for inquiries and applications, with a far more secure method of dealing with customer data – including asking for permission to process the information according to the Personal Data Protection Act 2010.
This particular scammer is still up even after we filed a complaint (it’s been eleven days as of this writing). This means that while we do our best to keep you safe from people who are misusing our brand, you might want to be careful about who you reach out to for financial help.
These days ,as more of our daily life and financial transactions move online, we all need to learn how to keep our personal information safe.
Want to find out more about how scams work and how your details can be stolen and misused?
We appreciate your inquiries through Facebook Messenger, but maybe consider coming by our website instead if you need more information. We promise the experience will be a lot more pleasant than dealing with a scammer.
