- 4 months ago
Malaysia lost over RM1.3 billion to scams in 2023, a growing threat to its digital economy goals. Julian Gorman, Head of Asia Pacific at GSMA, shares how telcos like Maxis and CelcomDigi are using real-time tools to fight back. Can Malaysia rebuild trust before it’s too late?
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00all right thank you for tuning into Niagawani right now we're gonna dive into where the topic
00:13is about scams and as Malaysia accelerates its digital ambitions a silent threat is rising
00:19which is called online scams and scammers now are getting more complex where either they use
00:23AI to clone voices mimic identities and also scare deception like never before so we have a lot to
00:29unpack here joining us right now is Julian Gorman the head of Asia Pacific at GSMA good morning
00:34Julian where we see in a 2023 alone over 32,000 online scam cases in Malaysia resulted in losses
00:42about 1.3 billion ringgit so which is equivalent to a 37.5 percent of from the previous year which
00:50is 2022 so to start Julian why are scams no longer just a consumer issue but a national threat to
00:56digital ambition in Malaysia well I mean it's a good question you raised Nabila I mean digital
01:02nations are built on trust just as our physical society is built on trust moving forward to create
01:08sustainable inclusive digital nations is really dependent on nurturing and curating digital trust
01:14so that everyone feels safe online and with scams the unfortunate thing is now so many people in the
01:21you know whether it's people you know or people you love have been a victim of scam but actually just
01:25about everybody is starting to have some sense of do they need to modify their behavior online
01:30and so it's an incredibly important issue for the region because you've got some of the fastest
01:35growing economies across ASEAN including Malaysia and they're being propelled by fast growing digital
01:41economies so while there's overwhelming positive benefit from digital economies and digital transformation
01:48the risk is that scams continue to erode or place at risk trust and place that vision of a digital future
01:57at risk and and could compromise the the potential for the GDP growth which you know in the mobile
02:04economy we estimate for the region in Asia Pacific is about 1.4 trillion by the end of the decade you
02:10know that's a significant part of the economy about 6.6 percent of the economy and so to place that risk
02:16um by scam and fraud it's not just about the personal loss but although we should never underestimate the
02:21personal loss because that usually involves or financial but it's also the embarrassment and the
02:26shame of being scammed um which is some things that we need to help also consumers and businesses overcome
02:34like i mentioned Malaysia is a growing economy uh especially in ASEAN but there is this thing called
02:39revictor revictimization which is a growing trend as well where victims are often targeted again for
02:45example these vulnerable groups like retirees also students and also gig workers are bearing the brunt
02:51so what does this say about the psychological and also systemic vulnerabilities in our digital ecosystem
02:57Julian well it's a push that the scammers are very technically capable um very advanced and taking
03:03advantage of social engineering and gaps or weaknesses or people at risk in our society
03:08um people who maybe don't have the skills or are vulnerable through other reasons and they're
03:13really professional about it really um they're exposing those weaknesses um and and it really is
03:20there is a psychological impact that we really need to consider and that's also to consider that
03:24actually a lot of the people who are perpetrating these scams are being people trafficked in scam farms
03:29in various parts of the region and that also is unfortunate as the region's attracting a bit of global
03:34attention about uh the level of scam production um in the region that all together is is risking our
03:41you know the safety and security and the inclusiveness of our digital societies and nations
03:47let's look at the global level now where we see scams now cause the economy an estimated around 1.03
03:53trillion u.s dollars and Asia bears a disproportionate share and in this contact telcos like maxis and
03:59also cellcom dgs are stepping up defenses via gsma's open gateway which offers api or same rep detect swap
04:08detection and also real-time number verification so julian can you walk us through how do this real-time
04:14anti-scam apis and also um this same swap detection tools work to actually block the fraud and can you
04:22share the quantifiable impact to date as well so i mean it's good point you raise so gsma's open gateway
04:29program with a global a global program to create api standardized apis to unlock the power of the
04:35mobile network for the ecosystem and obviously there's strong demand for apis that help deal with
04:41with scam and fraud and things like sim swap location silent number verification are all apis which
04:48the ecosystem can then access through easy open apis standardized across the world to include or
04:55integrate into their own risk algorithms or their user experiences to mitigate fraud and and improve
05:02the user experience and the safety online on top of that mobile operators across the region are innovating
05:08to help provide services that help consumers manage or protect them from fraud examples such as true in
05:17thailand or airtel in india who are providing scam protection uh spam filters um airtel in india claims to
05:26stop about 99 of spams uh they're coming using their ai scam filter uh in singapore scam shield is another
05:35example of a service for consumers combined with the a with the apis um where the apis are enabling the
05:42ecosystem um the combination is is helping uh operators and ecosystem and government come together
05:49and unite um to combat scam because that's really what needs to happen it needs to be collaborative and
05:55collective effort because no single partner uh party has access to all the information to actually
06:02protect everything but by working together we can collaborate and address the growing scam threat
06:08but now let's look at the neighboring countries for example we have singapore where the scam shield in
06:14singapore has blocked or blacklisted nearly 319 million potential scam calls in 2023 and scam sms has
06:22dropped by 17 70 percent in three months after standard id registry enforcement so from this singapore's
06:30experiences what can malaysia actually learn and from this multi-agency approach and what are the principal
06:35challenges in adopting these tools in malaysia i think the greatest lesson to come out of the the
06:41work in singapore is how the government the operators uh and the parts of the value chain uh ecosystem
06:47work together to improve scam shield and its effectiveness um scams actually vary significantly
06:53across the region depending on the country because they take advantage of various social and cultural
06:57issues um accessing people who who are most at risk um and so actually each country is about adapting
07:05um the collaboration to serve and combat the scams that are popular in that in that country so i'd
07:11say one of the uh i mean singapore has had great success with scam shield they also had significant
07:17growth in scam costs in the last year um estimated more than 70 percent growth so even higher than
07:22malaysia's uh growth highlighting how important is an issue for singapore but i would say the greatest
07:28lesson is is to working together and the government taking a very proactive role in helping unite the
07:34industry in the uk system and everybody coming together in the forward-leaning uh position that
07:40this is something we need to address together so cross uh sectors coordination plays a vital role of
07:47course but how is uh malaysia's national scam response center or nsrc evolved to match the speed or
07:54also scale of this uh threats as a whole julian well i understand that that center is actually one of the
08:00one of the leading areas and we and there's already cross-border collaboration with some other
08:05countries like singapore and that's um the same in mobile industry so we've created the uh cross-sector
08:11anti-scam task force which is about uniting operators um government and an ecosystem including
08:16platform players across the region because just uh working within a country is not enough a big part of
08:23scams is cross-border so it's important that we come together as a region and that's why gsma we've
08:28uh launched or announced the asean m360 which will start from next year although following from the
08:34digital nation summit uh asean edition which will be in koala lumpur in september where scam and uh or
08:40and how the industry can work together with scam will be a big feature because across the asean footprint
08:47actually all the operators have now joined the open gateway program so we're working together having a
08:52standardized portfolio um and it is a unifying unfortunate risk um that we need to work
08:58together and so as asean and and malaysia has been so important in announcing their koala lumpur
09:05directive this year as chair of asean um and the importance of a safe and secure and inclusive digital
09:10society um and that we need to work together our events also look to help uh be a platform to help
09:18track and and navigate the journey for asean and we you know we're so happy and honored to be part
09:24of with mcmc in malaysia to be able to bring these events uh to malaysia and be part of a regional uh
09:31effort to address scams i mean julian it's it's okay to prepare for the worst and we're going to give you
09:37a situation where if malaysia feels to actually decisively address scam threats how might that impact
09:43malaysia is my digital blueprint ambition to become a regional digital hub by 2030 and also could
09:48investors also users be deterred as well well i mean it's important you know with the mobile economy
09:54by the end of the decade 1.4 trillion dollars um malaysia needs to compete and and has the capacity
10:00to compete for a disproportionate share of that mobile economy um and so it's important that malaysia
10:06has the vision to be a leader um and has the potential to be a leader in in creating a safe and
10:11secure and inclusive uh digital economy um and making sure that people feel safe and that provides
10:18a beacon or a reference point for the rest of the region to work together and that's again why we're
10:23doing the m360 asean and the digital nation summit asean in malaysia is because we want to uh also
10:30champion reflect that effort that the malaysian government is applying to this and when we talk
10:36about online scam it's not just about stolen money it's about stolen trust trust is the most uh
10:41important thing when you talk about scams and without trust the foundation of our digital future
10:45begins to crumble so what happens if public trust in digital platforms collapses and what point does
10:51trust become too damaged to rebuild and uh who should lead the effort to of rebuilding it julian well i
10:58mean i think uh you know my mother was uh tried to be scammed not so long ago i think most of us uh
11:05listening to your show probably know somebody who's been a victim or a potential or attempted victim of
11:10scam and you've just got to ask yourself did you modify behavior i mean i told my mom not to do
11:16certain things online that is actually then starting to impact the potential of the mobile
11:21economy so it's important uh that actually we protect and nurture because actually if people are
11:27scared about going online or scared of transacting online then actually that is limiting the potential
11:34of an overwhelmingly positive impact of the mobile economy and the digital economy but there's a
11:41situation where we need to do some balancing where um policymakers have to be balanced between
11:48encouraging innovation and also enforce protections to actually avoid digital world wars at the same time
11:53so what do you suggest i know it's it it's important that we do we work together again we need to work
11:58together because regulation and policy really needs to be more adaptive now we have technology significant
12:05technology innovations happening every two to three years now i mean with ai i think most people will
12:11consider that their lives are changing on a month-to-month basis i mean that that what you feel what you
12:17can do through your mobile phone or through your smart glasses is changing on an almost daily basis
12:22um so it's important that policy and regulation nurtures innovation is adaptive is technology
12:29neutral um but make sure that we are protecting those who are vulnerable um and making sure that we
12:35are including people so that means making sure that people have the right skills um and and making
12:40sure there's the right protections but also allowing industry and the mobile industry to to explore and
12:47innovate um to build the services that will also be part of the protection for consumers as
12:52we move forward last but not least julian we don't have much time unfortunately but
12:57is there anything for everyday users feeling overwhelmed like our parents uh what's your message
13:03about home and what proactive steps can actually individual individuals take part to be part of the
13:09solution at the same time well i think um you know we all grew up in a physical environment where we
13:15looked out and we protected the street like we looked make sure there's not something happening in
13:19the street outside our homes like we take ownership of our neighborhood in the same the digital world
13:24we own the digital world every person has a responsibility to protect if they see something
13:30i mean just like when you're on the catching the train or at the airport now where people say if you
13:34see something like a bag or something you flag it you tell people it's important that we get to the
13:39point where people feel they own their digital nation the digital society and feel and have access to a
13:46way of notifying concerns or alarms um and then so when it comes to your family it's making sure your
13:52parents have the skills the children have your skills um and and they're aware just like you tell
13:57your children don't talk to strangers also when they're online don't talk to strangers
14:02so indeed fighting scams is not just a technical issues but citrus issues and economic challenges
14:09as well and ultimately a national challenge so with a holistic approach from all sectors we still have
14:14hope and have a window to turn the tide and build a secure and also trusted digital malaysia
14:19but only if we act now so thank you so much uh to julian for your time and also insights and to you
14:25thanks for watching and let's keep digital safe in malaysia
Be the first to comment