Trapped in cycle of scams, victims being retargeted over 2.5 times on average

 Low digital literacy blamed for Malaysia's high victamisation rates

Stay vigilant: Victims not learning from experience is among the factors contributing to them being revictimised.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has the highest rate of online fraud revictimisation in Asia, with victims being retargeted over 2.5 times on average, according to the Asia Scam Report 2024 issued by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance.

CelcomDigi head of sustainability Philip Ling said the report also revealed that Hong Kong and Thailand ranked second and third respectively.

“There are two concerns, namely victims being repeatedly targeted by scammers and their low ability to differentiate artificial intelligence scams.

“The victims don’t learn from experience. It is concerning when they fall victim again because they lack the ability to differentiate between sources ... when contacted by authorities, they often cannot tell whether the caller is real or fake,” he said, Bernama reported.

He said this to reporters after attending the Anti-Scam Engagement Session, “It’s a Matter of When”, at the Tun Abdul Razak Broadcasting and Information Institute here, which saw the participation of over 100 staff from agencies under the Communications Ministry, including the Information Department, the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) and RTM.

Ling said the event on Monday provided participants with an opportunity to share information and advocate against crime in a manner that is clearer and easier for the public to understand.

“We need to know that scam victims do not get an adequate support system from the people around them.

“They feel scared, ashamed and unsure of where to seek help,” he said.

One of the participants, Abdul Wahid Abdul Mutallib from Bernama, said that such programmes should be expanded, particularly to the community, as they provide valuable new information and knowledge.

“This kind of programme is very good because it can raise awareness among the public, especially as we are in the age of AI,” he said.

Echoing similar sentiments, another participant Mohd Salehuddin Mohd Kidin expressed hope that more programmes focused on online fraud awareness would be organised at the grassroots level.

“Through courses like this, participants are given exposure on how to ensure that all information is accurate before making any online transaction,” he said.

Earlier, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said online fraud is one of the government’s main focuses in addressing the rise in cybercrime cases, including online gambling, cyberbullying and sexual crimes against children.

In response to this, the government has decided to implement a regulatory or licensing framework for social media and internet messaging services, effective Jan 1 next year.

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Your first line of defence, tracking scams: National Scam Response Centre (NSRC), 997 hotline, National Fraud Portal (NFP), emakMule portal

 

Boosting efficiency: A woman reading about the NFP, which is poised to greatly enhance the process of scam reporting and fund tracing. — AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star

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The platform’s ability to centralise and standardise fraud reporting across play its part and stay vigilant against scammers, say police

Public must play its part and stay vigilant against scammers, say police

KUALA LUMPUR: Check before your click, say the police.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf has urged the public to use the SemakMule portal (https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my/) before making any financial transaction online.

“Use the SemakMule portal to verify and check the list of mule bank accounts, phone numbers and shell companies used by scammers.

“The portal was established in 2020 to list phone numbers and mule bank accounts, but it has since been improved to (include) the names of shell companies,” he told The Star yesterday.

Comm Ramli said that so far, a total of 216,074 mule accounts have been listed on the site along with 178,006 phone numbers used by scammers.

“We also listed a total of 3,904 shell companies used by scammers,” he added. 

Some 27 million visitors have logged in to the portal since its inception, and about one million of the searches have been positive, meaning transactions made to mule accounts were prevented.

Comm Ramli hopes that the public would be able to fully utilise the improved SemakMule portal to prevent from getting scammed.

“We will never relent in our enforcement efforts against scam syndicates, but we hope the public can play its part by staying vigilant,” he said.

Comm Ramli said scammers are coming up with new modus operandi to dupe victims into giving them their money, including using generative artificial intelligence to produce fake videos, as well as audio and text messages.

“Scammers are resorting to new and innovative ways to dupe victims. We have encountered cases recently in which scammers used deepfake technology to mimic the voice of a victim’s friend to dupe them.

“Use the SemakMule portal to prevent being scammed. The public can also report any scam to the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) by calling the 997 hotline,” he added.

According to Comm Ramli, other methods used by scammers include advertising dubious investment schemes on social media and phone scams, where scammers call up victims posing as officers from government agencies.

Meanwhile, on the establishment of the National Fraud Portal (NFP), Comm Ramli said it was a good anti-scam effort.

“We welcome the NFP, especially when it can further enhance the role of the NSRC in detecting scams faster, (enabling us) to help the victims.

“It will certainly boost the fight against scams,” he said.

Comm Ramli also hopes that financial institutions will be able to fully utilise the NFP, to enhance security measures.

“It (NFP) is a step in the right direction but at the same time, we urge banks and other financial institutions to upgrade their security, both internally and externally against any threat be it malware or ransomware.

“We also hope they will be able to better secure the data of their customers as well,” he said.

This year alone, over RM1.6bil in losses have been recorded from commercial crimes, including scams, Comm Ramli noted.

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