Set up special police taskforce to probe online scamming, says IT expert

SHAH ALAM - A special police team needs to be set up to probe online scams and to ensure the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA) is enforced.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) information technology law expert Prof Dr Nazura Abd Manaf said the country has personal data protection laws has the means of protecting online users.

"If there's a law, it must be enforced. Action must be taken by relevant bodies.

"But the enforcement needs to be tight, especially from the police. The police must have a special force in order to investigate scam cases in Malaysia," she told Sinar Daily.

It was reported that since 2020 to Aug 2022, almost 72,000 online scams in the country caused victims to lose a whopping RM5.2 billion. The top five most prevalent online scams were e-commerce, illegal loans, jobs, investment schemes and money mulling.

Nazura further said Bank Negara needs to give its full cooperation to curb this menace.

"The government needs educated Malaysians. We need to have a proper guideline for the public to access on how to report these scammers to authorities because right now, the public are still not aware," she said.

She further added that everyone must be aware ofeffctive passwords more than 12 letters and having a combination of capital letters.

Meanwhile, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) head of cyber security centre Prof Dr Zarina Shukur said people should not provide personal information if it is not required.

Zarina said users need to be familiar with the recipient when transferring money.

"And do not click on any suspicious messages."

She further said one should have a "doubt" mindset when reading any text, especially one related to banks or money.

Since 2020 to August 2022, almost 72,000 online scams in the country caused victims to lose a whopping RM5.2 billion. The top five most prevalent online scams were e-commerce, illegal loans, jobs, investment schemes and money muling.