KUALA LUMPUR: Findings from a series of discussions by a special working committee tackling online scams will be presented to the Cabinet soon, says Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil.
The Communications Minister said a Cabinet note was being prepared to outline several key decisions reached following the committee’s engagements.
“The working committee has held a series of discussions and I will submit a Cabinet note soon to inform the Cabinet of several decisions,” he told reporters after officiating M360 Asean 2026 yesterday, Bernama reported.
Fahmi described the committee as unique as it brings together commercial banks, telecommunications companies and digital platform providers, including TikTok, for the first time in a coordinated effort to combat online scams.
He said discussions also examined potential gaps in existing laws and ways to strengthen strategic cooperation among enforcement agencies involved in investigating scam cases.
The cross-agency cooperation involves the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Royal Malaysia Police’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department.
The working committee and a special technical group were previously established to coordinate efforts by the government, regulators, enforcement agencies, financial institutions, telecommunications companies and digital platforms in tackling online scams.
Earlier in his opening speech, Fahmi noted that four major operations targeting the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material since December 2024 had resulted in 117 arrests across 162 locations.
A total of over 1.47 million digital files were recovered during the crackdown of which 204,934 were confirmed to be child sexual abuse material.
To curb such crimes, he said Malaysia is bolstering its digital safety framework through the Online Safety Act 2025, the Child Protection Code and the Risk Mitigation Code.
These frameworks impose clear responsibilities on platform providers, encompassing child safety-by-design, age verification, proactive risk assessments, stringent content governance and responsive reporting mechanisms.
On another matter, Fahmi said the government is monitoring tactics used by drug sellers who employ coded terms and fake accounts to evade authorities and detection by e-commerce platforms.
He said those sellers had been found avoiding the scientific or actual names of the prohibited substances, including dangerous synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, in their advertisements.
“Sometimes, they use different terms. Users may recognise them and know how to make a purchase but the platform may not realise the items are prohibited,” he said.
Fahmi also said e-commerce services would be continuously monitored and scrutinised to prevent the sale of those prohibited substances.
“I will check every day whether these platforms are still allowing prohibited items to be sold,” he said.
Fahmi said representatives of an e-commerce platform linked to the issue were summoned on Monday and that he is still awaiting a full briefing on the outcome of the meeting.
