KUALA LUMPUR – Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is working closely with Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet) and the financial industry to set up the National Fraud Portal, which is expected to be ready by the middle of next year.
BNM deputy governor Datuk Marzunisham Omar said the portal aims to automate and enhance the ability to trace fund movements as well as identify money mules.
“BNM is working with the financial industry and PayNet to improve the National Scam Response Centre by automating the process of detecting and tracing the movement of funds stolen from financial scam victims.
“We hope that by doing this, we will increase the likelihood of tracing and freezing the fund, and protect the victims from losses,” he said after the media workshop and panel discussion on financial scams at Lanai Kijang today.
Marzunisham noted that the rapid evolution of technology offers many benefits to the financial industry and consumers alike, but it has also led to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) powered scams.
“This is something that we have to guard against, we don’t want to underestimate the scammers as they would use various modus operandi to scam the people,” he said.
Meanwhile, during the panel discussion session, BNM’s Technology Risk Specialist, Ng Lee See warned that globally, AI technology has been misused to digitally manipulate or generate fake visual and audio content of some well-known people rather convincingly.
In some instances, it has led victims to believe that an investment scheme is genuine, therefore it is important that the public be made aware of scammer’s tactics, and to always check investment scheme licences prior to making investments, she said.
She said members of the public could refer to the Securities Commission’s website to see the list of companies or individuals licensed to carry out financial planning or investment services, as well as BNM’s website to see the list of individuals or entities regulated by the central bank.
She noted that the banking industry has done pretty well in terms of detecting scams using the Android Package Kit (APK), which has led to a decline in such cases.
“However, scammers are always changing their tactics, and scams are becoming more sophisticated and complex,” said Ng. – September 5, 2023