FINANCE Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz today announced the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) to deal with the rise in cybercrime.

He said the NSRC will be jointly managed by the police, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre (NFCC) in co-operation with various financial institutions.

He added that the centre will open this month and will act against any reports lodged to block bank accounts and take enforcement actions against criminals.

“This will include tightening of internet banking security measures by banking institutions to stop the use of SMS-based one-time passwords (OTP) for high-risk online transactions.

“Also, the platform will enable the public to report any bank accounts or telephone numbers suspected of being used by online scammers,” he said when tabling the Budget in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Tengku Zafrul said the NSRC was increase financial and digital literacy awareness among users.

Meanwhile, the government will further strengthen CyberSecurity Malaysia by allocating RM73 million to strengthen cyber threat monitoring, tracking and reporting, including building cyber forensic systems.

“To protect credit consumers while promoting a fair and orderly consumer credit market, the government is committed to table the Consumers’ Credit Bill in the second quarter of next year.

“Through this effort, an independent agency, the Consumers’ Credit Monitoring Board, under the Finance Ministry will be established to monitor all activities related to consumer credit,” he said. – Bernama, October 7, 2022.