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MALAYSIA'S financial sector successfully prevented approximately RM1.9 billion in attempted fraudulent transactions in the first half of 2026, exceeding the RM1.2 billion blocked throughout the entirety of 2025, Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Datuk Seri Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour announced today.
Abdul Rasheed revealed that over the past five years, authorities have recovered more than RM37 billion in assets, supported by robust oversight across more than 27,000 financial and non-financial reporting institutions, technology-driven supervision, and multi-agency investigations into complex financial crimes.
He said this during his keynote address at the International Conference on Financial Crime and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (IFCTF) 2026 today, highlighting significant strides in the nation's anti-scam measures.
Malaysia has established four key intelligence-sharing platforms to combat financial fraud: the National Financial Crime Centre, the National Scam Response Centre, the Multi-Agency Task Force, and the National Fraud Portal.
Since October 2025, the National Fraud Portal has piloted payment network pattern analysis to detect potential mule accounts, with Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd identifying over 1,600 high-risk mule accounts to date.
Addressing the rising threat of artificial intelligence in cybercrime, Abdul Rasheed cited INTERPOL estimates indicating AI-driven scams are 4.5 times more lucrative than traditional methods, enabling perpetrators to target victims faster and at a greater scale.
"If criminals automate fraud, we must also automate detection," Abdul Rasheed said, calling for greater agility in detecting, blocking, and preventing illicit activities.
To counter AI-enabled social engineering—which accounts for roughly 95 per cent of online fraud where victims are manipulated into transferring their own funds—Bank Negara Malaysia aims to pilot a fraud alert capability with selected banks in the first half of next year.
Developed in collaboration with the banking industry and Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd, the feature will generate real-time warnings to prompt customers to pause, reflect, and verify transactions before completion.
Abdul Rasheed acknowledged that while the alert system may cause minor friction in the customer experience, the intervention remains essential to protect account holders, particularly those categorized as high-risk. - October 6, 2026
