Bosses and consumers in two minds over another lockdown
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May 10, 2021 9:44 PM
PETALING JAYA: Bosses and consumer groups are divided in their reactions to the latest nationwide MCO, with one consumer leader saying there had been too many flip-flops and Putrajaya needs to buck up.
Fomca president N Marimuthu said the third movement control order came too suddenly and the announcement had caught many by surprise after Cabinet ministers had been saying there would not be another lockdown as recently as a month ago.
“The anger on the ground with the government’s flip-flop is really bad,” he told FMT.
He urged the government to impose a loan moratorium for three months with immediate effect, and provide monthly aid of RM1,000 each for those in the lower-income B40 group and RM500 each for middle-income M40 people.
A third nationwide lockdown, from May 12 to June 7, was announced earlier today, with schools closed and social activities including Hari Raya visits banned. All economic sectors will be allowed to operate, but under work-from-home conditions.
Lockdown necessary
Consumers’ Association of Subang and Shah Alam president Jacob George said the association is in support of the lockdown, because economic sectors are allowed to operate.
“We do not see any major impediment. The government has to take measures to reduce the rate of infections,” he added.
Read more: Bosses and consumers in two minds over another lockdown
It’s not the time to raise premiums, Fomca tells insurance firms
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May 10, 2021 1:52 PM
PETALING JAYA: A consumer group has slammed the alleged increase in medical insurance premiums, saying the move is ill-timed.
The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca) said it has received several complaints from policyholders over the increase recently.
It said many policyholders are affected, especially because the movement restrictions have either affected incomes or led to retrenchment.
“This is not the time to increase insurance premiums,” Fomca president Marimuthu Nadason said in a statement.
“It is wrong and unacceptable for insurance companies, at this time, to raise premium prices to make excessive profits. Consumers are already suffering.”
He urged those affected by higher premiums to inform the association, and those who have not received any notices of price increases to inquire with their agents.
Marimuthu said Fomca would launch a national campaign to urge Bank Negara Malaysia to stop the increase in premiums.
BNM, as a regulator, should have already “pre-emptively” directed insurance companies not to increase premiums at this point of time, he said.
PRESS RELEASE: HAS YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY INCREASED THE PRICE OF YOUR MEDICAL PREMIUMS?
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PRESS RELEASE / SIARAN MEDIA
10th MAY 2021
HAS YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY INCREASED THE PRICE OF YOUR MEDICAL PREMIUMS?
FOMCA has been recently receiving many complaints from policy holders of medical insurance of indiscriminate increase in the price of their premiums. We are concerned of how extensive this issue this and how many consumers have been similarly affected by the price increase of their premiums.
We call on all consumers with medical insurance policies to inform us of the price increase of your premiums and for those who have not received any notices of price increase in your medical insurance to contact your agent and ask him/her if there is indeed any increase in the price of your medical premiums.
At the current time, with unending lockdowns and conditional lockdowns, many consumers have been severely affected either through loss of jobs or reduction in incomes. This is certainly not the time to increase insurance premiums.
It is certainly wrong and unacceptable that insurance companies, at this time raise premium prices to make excessive profits. Consumers are already suffering.
If based on your feedback, we find that many consumers have been forced to pay increasing medical premiums, FOMCA will be launching a National Campaign to urge Bank Negara Malaysia to Stop the Increase in Medical Premiums.
Consumers are facing tremendous economic pressure due to job loss, income loss and economic insecurity. Now is certainly not the time to increase medical insurance premiums.
As a responsible regulator, Bank Negara Malaysia, to protect consumers, should have already pre-emptively directed insurance companies not to increase premiums at his point of time.
Please provide the feedback to FOMCA to enable us to know if you have been affected by the price increase of your medical insurance premium?
Let us as consumers act together to protect our interests.
These are the information we need
- Insurance Company
- Current Annual Insurance Premium (RM)
- New Annual Insurance Premium (RM)
You may email us the details at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via this online form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PriceHike .
Kindly visit our webpage www.fomca.org.my for more information.
PKP: Penggunaan elektrik dijangka meningkat
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09 Mei 2021
PADANG TERAP - Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) menjangkakan kadar penggunaan bekalan tenaga elektrik akan meningkat susulan larangan rentas negeri dan daerah bermula 10 Mei hingga 6 Jun depan.
Pengerusi TNB, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid berkata, kadar penggunaan dipercayai mula naik apabila orang ramai tidak ke mana-mana dan perlu berada di rumah lebih kurang 26 hari susulan pengumuman kerajaan melalui Mesyuarat Majlis Keselamatan Negara (MKN) tidak membenarkan rentas negeri dan daerah.
"Jadi sedikit sebanyak jumlah bekalan elektrik yang akan digunakan meningkat apabila mereka tidak perlu ke sekolah, mungkin ada yang tidak dapat ke pejabat dan banyak perniagaan tidak dibuka.
"Mereka akan duduk di rumah dan ada peningkatan, namun untuk tujuan itu TNB sememangnya telah bersiap siaga berdepan kemungkinan yang dihadapi akibat Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP) dan larangan rentas daerah serta negeri," katanya.
Beliau berkata demikian kepada pemberita selepas Majlis Sumbangan Aidilfitri kepada kepimpinan UMNO Cawangan Pedu Parlimen Padang Terap di sini pada Ahad.
Dalam perkembangan sama, Mahdzir yang juga Ahli Parlimen Padang Terap berkata, TNB akan menggunakan pengalaman mereka ketika menghadapi PKP tahun lepas untuk berdepan situasi ketika ini.
"Dahulu, pembaca meter TNB bukan sebahagian petugas barisan hadapan namun sekarang mereka merupakan sebahagian petugas barisan hadapan sekaligus membolehkan mereka membaca meter setiap bulan berdasarkan arahan MKN," katanya.
Motor insurance issues to be sorted out
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Monday, 10 May 2021
PETALING JAYA: Motor insurance practices that are allegedly unfair to consumers are now being sorted out by the authorities and the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca).These alleged practices include failure to cover the full amount of repair costs quoted, lengthy claim settlements that drag on for months and refusal to compensate consumers for loss of use of the vehicle.
Fomca said Bank Negara must protect consumers in such situations.
“Bank Negara has contacted us, saying it took such matters seriously and is reviewing the issues.
“They have asked us for more information on specific cases and the points we have raised in order for them to respond, ” National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) senior manager Baskaran Sithamparam said when contacted.
NCCC is a centre under Fomca that deals with consumers’ complaints.
Baskaran said Fomca has requested for a meeting with Bank Negara to discuss matters involving motor insurance.
Between January and March, a total of 86 complaints on motor insurance and workshops were received by Fomca through the NCCC.
“From 2019 to 2020, we received 1,354 complaints involving insurance for vehicles and property, ” he added.
When claiming motor insurance, Baskaran said one common issue faced by consumers was being denied their right to choose the workshop to repair their vehicles even though the workshop is registered under the General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) and Road Transport Department.
Didik masyarakat hargai makanan
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06 Mei 2021
CYBERJAYA - Perbadanan Pengurusan Sisa Pepejal dan Pembersihan Awam (SWCorp) di bawah Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan (KPKT) meneruskan pelaksanaan Kempen Hargai Makanan, Elak Pembaziran pada tahun ini untuk terus mengurangkan pembaziran makanan di tapak pelupusan sampah.
Kempen yang masuk tahun keenam itu digerakkan bagi mengelakkan kesan pencemaran dan pemanasan global.
Timbalan Menteri Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan, Ismail Abd Muttalib berkata, lambakan sisa makanan di tapak pelupusan menyumbang kepada pencemaran alam sekitar serta pemanasan global akibat pembebasan gas metana yang terhasil daripada penguraian sisa makanan.
“Gas metana atau gas rumah hijau membawa kesan ke atas pemanasan bumi sebanyak 34 kali lebih bahaya berbanding gas karbon dioksida.
“Janaan sisa pepejal di Malaysia sehari ialah 38,120 tan dan daripada jumlah itu sebanyak 44.5 peratus ialah sisa makanan yang bersamaan dengan 17,000 tan sehari,” katanya.
Beliau berkata demikian pada sidang akhbar selepas melancarkan Kempen Hargai Makanan, Elak Pembaziran 2021 yang diadakan serentak dengan Perhimpunan Bulanan Penjawat Awam KPKT di SWCorp.
Ismail memberitahu, keseluruhan sisa makanan yang dibuang itu boleh memuatkan tujuh buah kolam renang Sukan Olimpik.
Consumer groups call on MyCC to probe e-commerce giant
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May 6, 2021 9:45 AM
PETALING JAYA: Two consumer groups have called on the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) to investigate e-commerce giant Shopee for allegedly offering RM3,000 in vouchers to sellers to close their stores on Lazada.
The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) said the allegation, if true, stifles competition, while the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) said the move is akin to using the vouchers as “bait” to attract sellers.
“If an e-commerce provider says ‘Just sell on my platform, don’t sell on others’, that’s not proper,” said Fomca’s chief executive officer, Saravanan Thambirajah.
“There has to be competition. When there is competition, consumers will gain. If someone is distorting the market, MyCC should take action.”
Saravanan also called on the sellers to report to MyCC if they felt they were being “disturbed” by e-commerce platforms.
Noting the numerous reports consumers have filed against the two e-commerce giants regarding fake products and scams on the platform, he said MyCC has been pushing the domestic trade and consumer affairs minister to take action against the sites.
“That’s also why they should definitely investigate this,” he said.
“The most important agency to investigate this is MyCC as this falls under their purview.”
Read more: Consumer groups call on MyCC to probe e-commerce giant
Honda Malaysia panggil balik 77,708 kereta
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KUALA LUMPUR: Honda Malaysia memanggil balik 77,708 unit kenderaan pelbagai model bagi tujuan penggantian pam bahan api, lanjutan daripada kempen sama yang dilaksanakan Jun tahun lalu.
Model Honda yang terbabit dengan kempen itu merangkumi kenderaan yang dipasang pada 2018 hingga 2020.
"Honda Malaysia memohon maaf di atas kesulitan yang dihadapi pelanggan terbabit. Kami telah memastikan semua jualan model semasa tidak terjejas dengan panggilan semula ini," katanya dalam satu kenyataan.
Model terbabit adalah Accord model 2018 dan 2019 masing-masing 512 dan 780 unit; BR-V model 2018 dan 2020 masing-masing 7,112 dan 6-unit; City model 2019 sebanyak 30,388 unit; City (HEV) model 2019 sebanyak 390 unit.
Selain itu, Civic model 2018 dan 2019 masing-masing 6,240 dan 2,776 unit; CR-V model 2019 dan 2020 masing-masing 9,843 dan 1,381 unit; HR-V model 2018 sebanyak 7,679 unit dan HR-V (HEV) model 2018 sebanyak 62 unit.
Turut terbabit ialah Jazz model 2019 dan 2020 sebanyak 5,791 dan 4,626 unit serta Jazz (HEV) model 2019 dan 2020 masing-masing 92 dan 30 unit.
Menurut Honda Malaysia, panggilan semula itu adalah langkah pencegahan untuk mengatasi kemungkinan terdapat kesukaran bagi menghidupkan enjin, kehilangan kuasa enjin atau kenderaan terhenti kerana pam minyak yang rosak.
Bagaimanapun, katanya, sehingga kini, tiada kemalangan atau kecederaan dilaporkan susulan isu berkenaan di Malaysia.
Falling for ‘high returns’ promise
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Sunday, 25 Apr 2021
PETALING JAYA: The challenging economic times brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic were among reasons why some investors fell for investment scams that promised high returns within a short time, says the Securities Commission (SC).
The industry regulator said this was coupled with the general public’s lack of understanding of the capital market, with many investors believing they could gain up to 31% returns if they joined the investment scams.
“We saw a significant jump in complaints about investment scams between 2019 and 2020 with victims across all ages and backgrounds because such scams were conducted via social media, ” it said.
It said complaints about such schemes climbed to 158% from 2019 to 2020, with most of them involving scams, unlicensed investment advice and unregistered digital asset platforms.
In 2019, the SC received 212 complaints but this number jumped to 548 in 2020. So far this year, it has received 215 complaints.
The SC believes scammers had taken advantage of people’s vulnerability to earn extra income during the pandemic.
Some of the scams even promised 10-fold returns on their investment within 24 hours of investing.
Awas! Jangan terpedaya scammer 'pancing data'
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April 24, 2021 16:31 MYT
KUALA LUMPUR: Kes-kes penipuan 'memancing data' perbankan internet dilihat semakin meningkat sejak kebelakangan ini.
Pelbagai taktik digunakan termasuk menerusi panggilan telefon, menghantar khidmat pesanan ringkas (SMS) secara rambang menyerupai pesanan bank dan juga kiriman emel bagi memperdaya pengguna supaya menyerahkan maklumat peribadi seperti nama dan kata laluan akaun perbankan Internet.
Baru-baru ini Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (SKMM) mendedahkan beberapa helah dan modus operandi yang digunakan scammer itu.
Modus operandi itu turut digunakan untuk memperdaya dan memperoleh nombor Transaction Authorization Code (TAC) atau One-Time PIN (OTP) daripada pengguna.
Berikut modus operandi yang dikesan digunakan scammer:
1. Pesanan ringkas SMS atau mana-mana aplikasi pesanan termasuk WhatsApp dihantar menyatakan berlakunya transaksi kewangan mencurigakan atau wujud keperluan untuk pengguna mengesahkan, mengemas kini atau mengaktifkan semula akaun perbankan Internet.
2. Pengguna diminta untuk melayari pautan laman sesawang palsu yang diberikan dan kemudian memasukkan nama dan kata laluan akaun perbankan Internet.
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