We expect all financial institutions to properly inform and educate their customers on security measures implemented, and how customers can and should protect themselves. At the same time, various educational and awareness initiatives are being undertaken by relevant agencies, including the Financial Education Network (FEN) and Bank Negara Malaysia, such as through Amaran Scam Facebook page (facebook.com/amaranpenipuan). We also work with other law enforcement agencies and authorities to investigate fraud incidents and provide assistance and supports to victims. PDRM’s Scam Response Centre which was set up in collaboration with Bank Negara Malaysia, MCMC and the financial industry aims to ensure that immediate action can be taken to prevent further financial losses and attempt to recover stolen funds. For this, customers should lodge their complaints to their banks and the police immediately upon discovering that they have been defrauded or scammed. We are committed to working with other authorities to further strengthen existing arrangements in ongoing efforts to combat fraud and financial crime. This includes sharing of resources, expertise and data, as well as joint preventive measures. Compliance officers in the financial industry also have a role to play by being vigilant of emerging scam typologies and ensuring that response measures remain effective against new threats. I urge the entire compliance profession, including self-regulatory bodies, to take up leading roles to identify red flags and develop guidance to mitigate these threats. In 2019, we launched MyFINet to facilitate intelligence sharing on financial crimes.

In our recently published Financial Sector Blueprint, we stressed the need for strengthened cyber security readiness and responsiveness – not just within the financial sector, but across the whole chain of financial services. This includes third party service providers like telcos and cloud providers. After all, the defences against cyber threats are only as strong as the weakest link in that chain. An ongoing, critical priority for Bank Negara Malaysia and financial industry is to ensure our banking and payment channels remain secure and are equipped with the latest security controls and fraud risk management capabilities. Bank Negara Malaysia has issued multiple security advisories to the industry on modus operandi of latest frauds and additional countermeasures, and will continue to update regulatory requirements to take into account new risks. For example, to further strengthen security measures for online transactions, banks will be required to migrate from SMS-based “one-time passwords” to more secure, multi-factor authentication methods, for certain transactions. By their very nature, frauds and scams will continually seek to find ways to circumvent efforts to eradicate them. Bagai cendawan tumbuh selepas hujan. This means that in our efforts to combat scams, we continue to navigate the need to ensure the strong security measures against potential threats, without excessively increasing frictions that would affect the convenience of, and access to online financial services. For us to achieve this outcome, we also need customers to take steps to protect themselves against evolving threats.