PETALING JAYA: Cybercrime involving financial scams continues to escalate in Malaysia, with police data revealing 35,368 cases reported in 2024, marking a 2.53% increase from the previous year. The total losses amounted to RM1.58 billion.
The Royal Malaysian Academy Police (PDRM) further recorded 12,110 online scam cases in just the first quarter of 2025, involving fraudulent e-commerce offers, fake loan schemes, and non-existent investment platforms. These incidents resulted in losses totalling RM573.7 million.
In response, the Digital Ministry has introduced a series of proactive measures aimed at curbing online scams, particularly those enabled by emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), including deepfake videos and synthetic voice impersonations.
Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said the ministry is currently developing several AI-related guidelines through the Department of Personal Data Protection (JPDP), targeted for completion between January and March 2026.
“The guidelines include the Data Protection Impact Assessment, Data Protection by Design Guideline, and Guidelines on Automated Decision Making (ADM) and Profiling,” he said in a statement today.
To ensure the ethical and secure use of AI in the public sector, the ministry has also introduced the Garis Panduan Pengadaptasian AI di Sektor Awam (GPAISA), supporting government departments and agencies in implementing responsible AI adoption in compliance with legal and human rights standards.
Training and upskilling initiatives are also being rolled out through programmes like AI Untuk Rakyat and MD Workforce, under the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), to equip public servants and enforcement agencies with cyber and AI-related capabilities.
Additionally, the ministry, through CyberSecurity Malaysia and in collaboration with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), is developing an AI-powered application to authenticate digital images and videos.
The tool aims to assist investigations involving online fraud, identity forgery, and disinformation.