MORE steps must be taken to ensure the protection of personal data so that Malaysians don’t easily fall victim to online scams, Lembah Pantai lawmaker Fahmi Fadzil said.

He said the issue of online scams was very serious, adding that Pakatan Harapan was always advocating the strengthening the personal protection of individuals.

“More should be done by the government to prevent Malaysians from being victims of online scams,” said Fahmi during the GE-15 fundraiser campaign for Lembah Pantai last night.

“Online scams are closely tied with the work that I do in Lembah Pantai and I’ve gotten a lot of complaints from the residents.”

“Whether PH takes it as an election manifesto or not, reforms have begun and I believe this has to go further,” he said.

He added that he had always been interested in highlighting the issue of online scams.

“I have sued the government before in 2018 after Nuemera Sdn Bhd, a private company hired by MCMC, had failed to ensure safety of the private information of Malaysian users,” he said.

Fahmi sued Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) over the 2014 data leak of the personal information of more than 46.2 million telecommunications users.

Fahmi also urged the government to establish an anti-scam centre to effectively combat scammers and their activity online.

He said while he welcomed Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) efforts to curb online scams, more needs to be done by the government. – October 1, 2022.