TNG eWallet denies fraud in singer Zahid Baharuddin case. How could his wife lose over RM10,000?
APRIL 23 – Ahead of the Raya holidays, Zahid Baharudin posted a video claiming that his wife lost money from her bank account, allegedly linked to the Touch ‘n Go eWallet. The original video posted on TikTok had over 1.7 million views at the time of writing.
Zahid claims his wife’s account was hacked
Shortly after the video was published, TNG eWallet contacted Zahid and his wife and launched an investigation into the matter. On April 4, the company released an official statement sharing its findings.
TNG eWallet denies fraudulent activity and insists that the transactions were authorized
According to TNG eWallet, the suspicious transactions took place over a period of one and a half months, which is not consistent with the usual fraud pattern. In addition, the eWallet provider highlighted several points to counter the alleged claims that Zahid’s wife’s TNG eWallet account was hacked.
In the original video, Zahid said that his wife lost money from her bank account through TNG eWallet. He also urged viewers not to link their bank accounts to TNG eWallet.
TNG eWallet refuted this claim, saying the transfers to their TNG eWallet were made from other bank accounts, which requires mandatory, secure in-app verification by the bank. They stressed that the linked debit card did not contribute in any way to the reported unauthorized transactions.
Furthermore, TNG eWallet stressed that they have compelling evidence that the reported unauthorized transactions were made through their phone and with proper authentication. They added that they will continue to thoroughly review all evidence before taking any possible legal action. TNG eWallet said their main goal is to resolve the issue fairly and carefully.
Zahid contradicts TNG eWallet’s statement
A few days later, Zahid posted more videos in a four-part series to follow up on the situation. He said he disagreed with TNG eWallet’s statement that the transactions were authorized through their wife’s phone. In the video, he also said he was asked to post a video thanking TNG eWallet, but he refused to do so as his case was not resolved. He also claimed that legal action would be taken against him if he did not post the video.
Zahid also denies that his wife authorized the transactions and says that they do not know the name of the merchants for the disputed transactions. He claimed that his wife used her bank accounts for these types of transactions instead of going through the eWallet.
He also refuted media reports that his wife had lost RM4,250. He explained that the RM4,250 amount was only for the first disputed transaction and that there had been other disputed transactions in the months before, so a total amount of over RM10,000 had been lost.
TNG eWallet denies any wrongdoing and is taking legal action
Following the recent videos, TNG eWallet issued a new statement to provide an update on Zahid’s case, reiterating that all transactions were indeed properly authorized and met the following criteria:
– Transactions were completed with a PIN
– The transactions were made on the user’s phone, which is tied to the TNG eWallet account as a unique device
– The transactions took place at the place of residence
TNG eWallet added that the transactions made through QR scanning had to be carried out using the linked device and that the timestamps of these transactions had to match the active time of the app on the device, confirming their authenticity.
TNG eWallet said it was important to stress that there was no fraudulent activity on the eWallet in this matter, which absolves TNG eWallet of any wrongdoing. It also stressed that while they are committed to transparency, they are also bound by data protection regulations such as the Secrecy Act, which prevents them from revealing further in-depth details. The eWallet provider further assures that they have strong evidence that these transactions were properly authorized.
The company said it had asked Zahid and his wife to keep their followers updated on the status of the investigation as they had exhausted all avenues of assistance on their part. However, it said Zahid and his wife continued to damage their reputation by making defamatory statements that TNG eWallet was unsafe and falsely portraying its impact to inform the public by shifting the blame onto the bank involved.
TNG eWallet also said they had no choice but to take legal action, including filing a police report and serving a cease and desist notice on Zahid and his wife, accompanied by a detailed transaction log for clarification. Despite being offered another opportunity to clarify publicly, they failed to do so and would now allow the legal action to take its course.
TNG eWallet declares that the company is fully committed to maintaining the integrity of its security and business and will take all necessary measures to protect its community.
TNG eWallet security measures
TNG eWallet is the first eWallet to implement Bank Negara Malaysia’s security measures in March 2023. In addition to moving away from SMS OTP to a more secure TapSecure method, TNG eWallet has also introduced a cooling-off period when accessing an account from a new device. These measures are designed to prevent “hackers” from using your account when they try to log in on a new device. This makes it impossible to be logged into the same eWallet account with two phones at the same time.
Assuming a device is stolen, the “hacker” needs to be able to unlock the device (using a PIN or biometric security) and know the correct 6-digit PIN to authorize and complete a transaction that requires scanning a merchant’s QR code. In this specific case, it’s not just a one-time transaction, but multiple transactions made over a month and a half. If a transaction involves a top-up from another bank account before payment, the user will usually receive at least two notifications – one from the bank for the top-up and another from the eWallet for each successful transaction. — soyacincau