The local bank said the issue had been contained but advised its customers to beware of phishing scams and other potential threats.

“The bank is committed to transparency and has notified customers accordingly.

“If any customer suspects suspicious activity, they should immediately call Bank Rakyat’s contact centre at 1300-800800 or 03-55269200, or the National Scam Response Centre at 997,” it said in a statement.

Bank Rakyat said it had reported the incident to the authorities. It said its operations remained fully functional, adding that the security of customer data was its top priority.

Concerns of a data leak were sparked by several Bank Rakyat account holders receiving SMS messages, purportedly from the bank, stating that it might have experienced data issues.

In the text message, the bank advised users to immediately contact its call centre if they had noticed any issue or suspicious transactions.