National fraud portal launched today

The National Fraud Portal (NFP), a technology-based platform that aims to detect, verify and track fraudulent activities reported to the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) was launched today.

The NFP will enhance the capabilities of the NSRC, which was established in 2022, by automating the centre’s capability to trace stolen funds across multiple financial institutions and payment systems.

Rapid consumer complaints via the NSRC 997 line and financial institutions’ response can prevent stolen funds from being moved out of the financial system, hence increasing the potential of returns.

Second Finance Minister Amir Hamzah Azizan said the NFP will be able to boost the country's strategy to combat online fraud by changing the NSRC process which was previously handled manually and took a lot of time.

“The NFP is the leading automation platform in the region, providing secure access to key databases to support fraud prevention, as well as giving NSRC members a dynamic ability to detect and prevent fraudulent activity.

“The portal would integrate financial transaction data from various sources to automatically detect suspicious transactions and facilitate verification by the institutions involved.

“This automation speeds up actions, reduces fraud detection time, and prevents further losses,” he said at the launch of the NFP at Sasana Kijang in Kuala Lumpur today.

Amir said even at the pilot stage, NFP has reduced the time to track fraudulent transactions by 75 percent and increased the average monthly amount earmarked by financial institutions by 28 percent or RM4 million.

He said the NFP is also supported by access to data related to mule accounts from across the financial industry.

“I was made to understand that with the enhanced data and analysis, the detection rate of mule account holders has increased by 14 percent.

“The protocol also coordinates the industry's approach in helping account holders who have fallen victim (to fraudulent syndicate), so that they are not denied basic financial services,” he said.

Continuous improvements

Bank Negara Malaysia governor Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said one of the NFP’s main characteristics is its modular design which allows for continuous improvements to be made on the existing basic infrastructure.

He said that although data shows the overall losses borne by financial fraud victims are considered relatively small given the total domestic financial transactions, Malaysia cannot be complacent but must instead be more vigilant in identifying and overcoming the threats to safeguard the confidence in the national financial system.

Rasheed said cyber criminals will exploit technology continuously to expand their tactics.

“Our journey in fighting fraud is long and winding. In taking steps forward, I want to emphasise three main themes towards our efforts to combat financial fraud,” he said in his speech during the launch.

The themes are optimising technology, nurturing collaboration and empowering consumers.

According to him, Malaysia must optimise technology to enhance its capability and methods to crack down on financial fraud in view of the continuous proliferation of scam tactics.

“(In addition,) we have to nurture collaboration in our efforts. Eradicating financial fraud requires the whole-of-nation approach as well as close public-private sector collaboration,” he said.

Positive feedback

The governor said positive feedback has been received for the NFP which has seen the participation of 16 financial institutions, with more set to follow in the near future.

“BNM and the financial industry welcome new participants and expansion of existing participation from all relevant stakeholders in the greater digital ecosystem to strengthen our concerted action,” he said.

Rasheed said persistent efforts are required to empower consumers for all parties to be more cautious in a bid to prevent financial fraud.

“The public is the first line of defence in preventing financial fraud. Similarly important are efforts by the financial industry in dealing with mule accounts and educating the public so that they do not become victims involving mule accounts,” he said.

To support the effort, he noted, the industry-level protocol on mule handling has been issued to boost the industry’s capability to identify mule accounts.

“In addition, improvements to the NFP are being planned to enable consumers to report suspicious transactions directly from their online or mobile banking accounts,” he added.

- Bernama

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