Comms minister moots regional co-operation to curb trans border cyber crimes

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 — Asean members need to work together to put an end to cyber crimes, Malaysia’s Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said today.

He said that a regional initiative is needed as many scams that affected Malaysians were cross-border operations with bases in neighbouring countries within South-east Asia.

“A number of these cyber crimes do not occur in our country, meaning that there are a number of calls made from abroad but the victims are in Malaysia.

“So this needs a framework from the Asean level,” he told reporters after hosting a Chinese New Year open house at Taman Sri Sentosa here.

Fahmi, who is also Lembah Pantai MP, disclosed that several Asean members like Thailand and the Philippines have expressed their interest to standardise their protocols and regulatory framework.

“There was interest in a few countries in the region to synchronise some protocols and regulatory framework to ease the process of investigation, arrest, or curbing these scams from continuing, as there may be a country that has become their (the scammers’) headquarters,” he added.

Yesterday, Fahmi set out his ministry’s strategic plan on the matter, which includes strengthening the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC).

He reportedly said he has had discussions with representatives from the Finance Ministry, Home Ministry, police, Bank Negara, and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.

Last month, Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching revealed that the country lost almost RM600 million last year to scams and other cybercrimes.

She said that cybercrime was at a worrying level, and pledged that the government will take several measures to address this.