Facebook engages with Malaysian enforcement authorities to raise scam awareness

PUTRAJAYA, 18 July 2021:

As part of the industry effort to fight financial fraud, Royal Malaysian Police’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) and Facebook Malaysia, in partnership with government agencies, industry and consumer associations, have launched a three-month campaign to raise awareness of online scams.

This initiative joins the ongoing campaign by CCID with the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Securities Commission Malaysia, Bursa Malaysia Bhd, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia
Commission, CyberSecurity Malaysia, The Association of Banks in Malaysia, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations and the Education and Research Association for Consumers, Malaysia.

According to Malaysian police statistics, cyber crime fraud is on the rise. Over the last five years, a total of 67,552 cyber scam cases were reported between 2017 and 20 June 2021 – recording a total loss of RM2.23 billion.

Of the total, e-commerce scams top the chart with 23,011 cases, followed by illegal loans 21,008 cases and investment scam, 6, 273 cases.

“It is not just the good guys who are online. With the rising scam cases across Malaysia, we hope this campaign will help support various law enforcement and government agencies, industry and consumer associations and the financial services sector in building and ensuring a safer online ecosystem in Malaysia,” said Justin Murugaya, acting country director for Facebook Malaysia.

In Malaysia, the most prevalent types of financial scams include bank and identity impersonation, illegal
loans, investment scams, e-commerce scams and money muling and ATM card rentals – these are among the key focus areas of this campaign.

The #TakNakScam campaign calls for the public to remember three simple steps: “Spot, Check, Report” to
stay vigilant in identifying, verifying and reporting financial scamsters.

Spot: When dealing with unknown contacts, always be vigilant and cautious to consider the risk that the person may be a scamster. By being able to spot scams or impostors, you can avoid being a victim.

Check: When you suspect a content or contact to be a scam, do check with the authorities through official channels.

Report: If a content or phone call appears strange and if you think you were the victim of a crime, you can reach out to local authorities and the police department. Also make sure to report any suspicious activities, person or account to Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

During the campaign, educational videos, as well as tips and tricks to identify, tackle and report fraudulent activities will be shared comprehensively on various online and offline channels of all partners involved. Details are set out at https://wethinkdigital.fb.com/my/en-my/taknakscam/.