From left: Wong and Mo Jialin, vice president of ZTE's overseas marketing plan, during the dialogue session on Creating an Environmentally Friendly Digital Future. — MYEG
PETALING JAYA: MyEG group managing director and co-founder of Zetrix, TS Wong, highlighted the importance of mutually recognised digital identification systems between China and Asean countries, describing it as critical in combating online and cross-border scams.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), there was an estimated loss of US$37bil (RM166.38bil) to scam incidents in East and South-East Asia last year, while Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo revealed that 95,800 Malaysians fell victim to online scams, collectively losing RM3.18bil between 2021 and April 2024.
Wong, speaking at the China-Asean Digital Ecosystem Cooperation Forum in Bangkok, further highlights the role of national digital ID systems as verification processes.
"Many countries participating in the forum, including China, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, have or are in the process of issuing National Digital IDs.
"If countries recognise and enable localised verification of each other’s digital IDs in real-time, it becomes possible to accurately identify online users regardless of how realistic deepfake videos may appear," Wong says.
Wong further adds that interoperable digital IDs would enable real-time cross-border identity verification to deter and identify scammers, cultivate trust in digital transactions, and support digital economies by promoting collaboration and consumer confidence.
In a push towards such interoperability, MyEG is leveraging its layer-1 public blockchain, Zetrix, which is integrated with China’s national blockchain infrastructure, the Astron-Xinghuo BIF.
Such integration allows ZID digital IDs to be issued as Web3 Verifiable Credentials (VCs), which can act as tamper-proof digital IDs that the company says are a move towards unified frameworks of digital ID interoperability.
The China-Asean Digital Ecosystem Cooperation Forum was held alongside the fifth Asean Digital Ministers’ Meeting, and brought leaders and policymakers together to discuss digital security and international collaboration.
