KUALA LUMPUR:Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz today urged Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributors to beware of scam activities and always protect their personal information.

He said there were advertisements on social and online media that called for contributors to take out their savings to be invested in schemes that reeked of scam.

This came after it was announced that application for EPF Account 1 withdrawal would be opened from Dec 21.

"Online scams are also more wide-reaching due to a rise in online transactions including online payments and purchases on e-commerce platform during this COVID-19 situation.

"There are also news reports about scammers who obtained personal information of members of the public via discarded packaging, in order to threaten and scam those individuals for their money," Tengku Zafrul said in the latest LAKSANA report on the implementation of the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (PRIHATIN), National Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA) and Kita Prihatin Economic Stimulus Package (KITA PRIHATIN) released today.

He reminded all contributors to utilise the official channels for any EPF matters, namely EPF branches and kiosks, the official site for i-Sinar, which is isinar.kwsp.gov.my as well as EPF i-Account portal and app.

"Do not ever reveal information such as login username, password, bank account details and other sensitive information to unverified platforms, or to individuals without official identification.

"If you suspect that you have been cheated or if your personal data has been compromised, immediately report to the police and your respective bank, or to related agencies like Bank Negara Malaysia and Securities Commission for further action," he added.

-- BERNAMA