Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), announced a 58% reduction in unauthorised online banking transactions reported to the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) over the past five months.
Datuk Shaik Abdul Rasheed Abdul Ghaffour, the governor of the central bank, attributed this reduction to BNM’s implementation of five key measures to combat financial fraud in December 2022 and he expressed optimism about further reductions in the future, according to Malay Mail.
The five key measures are implementing a transaction cooling-off period, transitioning from SMS to one-time passwords (OTP) for enhanced authentication, designating a single device for authorisation, eliminating hyperlinks from SMS and email communications, and establishing a 24-hour cyber fraud security hotline.
Abdul Rasheed explained that the NSRC was established in October 2022 and has received over 19,000 reports on scam cases since its inception. This has resulted in freezing more than RM60 million and identifying 43,000 mule account holders.
Furthermore, the governor revealed plans to launch a National Fraud Portal (NFP) by mid-2024, which will streamline the industry’s response to scams from identification and reporting to fund recovery.
He emphasised that the NFP would enhance efficiency through automation, enabling faster assistance to victims. The NFP’s future expansion may include predictive assessments of mule accounts, advanced analytics, and fund tracing algorithms.
Additionally, Abdul Rasheed disclosed that BNM is evaluating potential policy enhancements to address financial scams.
He stressed the need to strengthen requirements for financial institutions, including conducting more robust investigations, implementing stronger preventive controls, and reviewing the effectiveness of these mechanisms.
