The company asks for a one-time payment for the product and another amount for renewal. A certificate with a logo and the wording “Provided by MAA Takaful” printed on it is given to the customer.
"MAA Takaful wishes to clarify that it does not have any sort of relationship whatsoever with the said company i.e. Qaseh Qayyum Enterprise and neither does it issue a Certificate Of Insurance bearing such logo. Members of the public are warned and reminded to be cautious and to not easily fall prey to such fraudulent activity," said the company in a statement. "MAA Takaful shall not be responsible for any liabilities related to the said fraudulent activity."
The company also issued a scam alert on its website about phone calls, email, SMS and other electronic communications that may have been made to members of the public on behalf of the company.
"Please take note that there may have been recent cases involving organisations and/or individuals, falsely pretending to represent/be affiliated to MAA Takaful, (who try) to forcefully offer/sell/renew takaful products in exchange of payment via phone calls, email and SMS," stated MAA Takaful online. "Please bear in mind that MAA Takaful will never request your banking and/or credit card information through phone calls. Please remember that these activities are fraudulent and MAA Takaful is not involved in such activities."
Scams via phone, email or SMS often occur with well-known companies as there is a higher likelihood of the victim being a customer of such a company. Scammers typically inject a sense of urgency into their messages so that victims are unable to take a step back and really consider if the message is genuine.
Examples of scams provided by MAA Takaful include:
The Phone Scam
This occurs when a victim receives a phone call purportedly from or on behalf of bank/insurance/takaful company. The caller will ask for the victim’s banking or credit card information after forcefully offering to sell or renew takaful products in exchange of payment. The victim would probably fall for it after strong insistence from the scammers.
Editor's note: It is difficult to verify these days if the caller is genuine. If you want to renew or buy a product or service, it is best to arrange for the company to call you at a specific time, or to make the purchase or renewal directly online, if this is possible. Alternatively you can go in person to make the purchase or renewal instead. Tell the caller you need to go the company's office that day anyway and will buy or renew the product then.
Phishing
This occurs when spam emails are sent out requiring the victims to perform banking/credit card transactions and hence revealing their banking/credit card information. The victims basically are tricked to click on a bogus hyperlink provided in the email and subsequently are redirected to a fake login website that is identical to the original website.
Editor's note: Most companies do not make email requests that require their customers to go online. This is because too many scammers are making such requests. They'll usually post a letter if they need anything done.
Spamming
An unsolicited or junk email that tries to sell products or services by sending the email in bulk to any email addresses at once with the hope that a few people will respond.
Editor's note: Anyone who needs to try people at random in this manner may not have an effective product to sell. It's also possible that you end up paying for an item that never arrives. Such emails can also be used to phish (see above).
SMS Scam
This occurs when a person receives an SMS from an unknown phone number pretending to be from a well known organisation, claiming they have won rewards in the form of cash, luxury goods and etc. Subsequently, they are instructed to respond and follow the instruction given in the SMS by the scammers and as a result, revealing their banking/credit card information.
MAA Takaful has listed some ways of identifying a scam:
Read blogged scam warnings about Facebook in the Philippines, Qantas, and Singapore Airlines. More warnings for Singapore scams here.
"Please take note that there may have been recent cases involving organisations and/or individuals, falsely pretending to represent/be affiliated to MAA Takaful, (who try) to forcefully offer/sell/renew takaful products in exchange of payment via phone calls, email and SMS," stated MAA Takaful online. "Please bear in mind that MAA Takaful will never request your banking and/or credit card information through phone calls. Please remember that these activities are fraudulent and MAA Takaful is not involved in such activities."
Scams via phone, email or SMS often occur with well-known companies as there is a higher likelihood of the victim being a customer of such a company. Scammers typically inject a sense of urgency into their messages so that victims are unable to take a step back and really consider if the message is genuine.
Examples of scams provided by MAA Takaful include:
The Phone Scam
This occurs when a victim receives a phone call purportedly from or on behalf of bank/insurance/takaful company. The caller will ask for the victim’s banking or credit card information after forcefully offering to sell or renew takaful products in exchange of payment. The victim would probably fall for it after strong insistence from the scammers.
Editor's note: It is difficult to verify these days if the caller is genuine. If you want to renew or buy a product or service, it is best to arrange for the company to call you at a specific time, or to make the purchase or renewal directly online, if this is possible. Alternatively you can go in person to make the purchase or renewal instead. Tell the caller you need to go the company's office that day anyway and will buy or renew the product then.
Phishing
This occurs when spam emails are sent out requiring the victims to perform banking/credit card transactions and hence revealing their banking/credit card information. The victims basically are tricked to click on a bogus hyperlink provided in the email and subsequently are redirected to a fake login website that is identical to the original website.
Editor's note: Most companies do not make email requests that require their customers to go online. This is because too many scammers are making such requests. They'll usually post a letter if they need anything done.
Check the email address of the sender, and also the address of the site in the email. Fake sites have different links from the real sites, and the email senders will not have official company email addresses. Some sites will send malicious software to your computer when you visit them, even if you don't click on anything, so it's best not to visit the site at all.
Sometimes the email will appear to have been sent by someone you know. Always check that the person did indeed send such a message.
Spamming
An unsolicited or junk email that tries to sell products or services by sending the email in bulk to any email addresses at once with the hope that a few people will respond.
Editor's note: Anyone who needs to try people at random in this manner may not have an effective product to sell. It's also possible that you end up paying for an item that never arrives. Such emails can also be used to phish (see above).
SMS Scam
This occurs when a person receives an SMS from an unknown phone number pretending to be from a well known organisation, claiming they have won rewards in the form of cash, luxury goods and etc. Subsequently, they are instructed to respond and follow the instruction given in the SMS by the scammers and as a result, revealing their banking/credit card information.
Editor's note: In another variation the victim is asked to pay administrative fees in order to receive the prize. The fees are usually much less than the value of the prize but still quite a sizeable amount. If you have won a prize there is usually no fee to pay. You can choose to call the organisation to confirm that you are indeed a prize winner. Do not call using numbers provided by the caller, as the calls may actually be to accomplices.
MAA Takaful has listed some ways of identifying a scam:
- The call received is from an unknown mobile phone number.
- The email received belongs to unknown sources.
- Requesting of personal/banking/credit card information via phone call/email/SMS.
- Poor command of English by the caller/email sender/SMS sender.
- Requesting of money at some stage.
- The package offered is illogical and too good to be true.
- Phone call that is insistent and threatening in nature.
- Do not respond to any phone calls requesting your banking/credit card information.
- Do not reveal your banking/credit card information to anyone.
- Do not follow instructions from an unknown party to perform banking/credit card transactions.
Read blogged scam warnings about Facebook in the Philippines, Qantas, and Singapore Airlines. More warnings for Singapore scams here.