PETALING JAYA: A multi-agency retreat will be held soon to coordinate cooperation among relevant stakeholders to tighten coordination and enforcement against scams, says Datuk Fahmi Fadzil.
The Communications Minister said there was a need for the agencies to join forces to close gaps in legal and regulatory action, as issues seen by one agency are not always fully understood by another.
He added that the retreat, organised by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), will involve several stakeholders, including the police and banking institutions.
“I chaired a meeting last week on April 9 to discuss the matter. As such, MCMC is taking a proactive step by bringing together all parties involved in fraud and online scams.
“This includes loan shark activities, job scams, investment scams, love scams and other crimes involving the misuse of network services.
“The meeting also agreed to hold a retreat to coordinate any necessary law changes and ensure more integrated action.
“These are among the matters that were discussed, decided upon and will be implemented,” he said.
The Star frontpaged a report yesterday that online job scams targeting youths have shown a worrying spike over the past two years.
CCID director Comm Datuk Rusdi Md Isa was quoted as saying that for the first three months of this year, there was an average of two cases of job scams daily involving youngsters aged 17 to 22 years old.
Comm Rusdi also said a total of 569 cases were recorded in 2024 involving those in the same age range.
“The number of cases surged to 1,246 last year. As of March this year, a total of 198 cases have been reported,” according to his statement in the report.
Fahmi added that scams are not limited to social media platforms, as cases also occur via WhatsApp or Telegram.
“MCMC is also working closely with the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on the matter.”
