National Anti Scam Centre To Open This Month

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Banks and other financial institutions are to be told to stop using one-time passwords via SMS for high-risk transactions. (Freepik pic)KUALA LUMPUR: A National Scam Response Centre is being set up to deal with online scams or frauds that have become an increasingly serious issue in the country, finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said today.
He said the centre will be jointly managed by the police, Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission and the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre in cooperation with various financial institutions.
He added that the centre will begin operations this month and will act against any reports lodged to block bank accounts and take enforcement actions against criminals.
“This will include tightening of internet banking security measures by banking institutions to stop the use of SMS-based one-time passwords for high-risk online transactions.
“Also, the platform will enable the public to report any bank accounts or telephone numbers suspected of being used by online scammers,” he said when tabling the 2023 budget in the Dewan Rakyat today.
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Tengku Zafrul said the initiative was also to intensify financial and digital literacy awareness among users to reduce the risk of being a scam victim.
He said the government is allocating RM73 million to strengthen cyber threat monitoring, tracking and reporting, including building cyber forensic systems.
To protect credit consumers while promoting a fair and orderly consumer credit market, the government would table a Consumers’ Credit Bill in the second quarter of next year which provides for an independent agency, the Consumers’ Credit Monitoring Board, to monitor all activities related to consumer credit. - FMT

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