Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil urged today for anti-fraud awareness campaigns to be strengthened and expanded to rural and remote areas across Malaysia to protect communities from increasing cyber threats. He called on authorities to bring these efforts beyond urban centres to grassroots organisations such as Parent-Teacher Associations, residents' groups, and Rukun Tetangga [1, 2].
Speaking at the launch of the National Anti-Scam Awareness Programme 2026, Fahmi highlighted how internet access now enables scammers to target villages without physically traveling there. He said, "Not everyone can come to the hotel to join the forum or awareness campaign, so we have to take this programme to the town halls, meet with the villages. When we provide Internet to remote villages, it means that even scammers can go to remote villages without leaving their workplaces, this is our challenge" [1].
From January 1 to August 19, 2026, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) requested the removal of 476,516 online content pieces linked to various offences. This includes 302,139 related to online gambling and 128,312 tied to fraud [1, 3, 2]. Facebook accounted for the highest number of fraudulent content removals, with 67,115 pieces, making up 52 percent, followed by TikTok with 50,642 pieces removed [1, 3, 2].
Fahmi stressed that while internet access—now often 5G-enabled—is cheaper and widespread, it does not guarantee a safe online environment. "Although the internet is now 5G, cheap and widely available, the internet is not necessarily safe," he said [3]. He also noted that online scam cases cause financial loss and significant psychological harm to victims [3].
Social media platforms have a legal obligation to prevent their services from being exploited for fraud or online gambling under Malaysia's online security laws. Non-compliance can incur penalties up to RM10 million [1, 2]. Victims are advised to immediately contact the National Scam Response Centre via 997, equivalent to a police report, to help block transactions and recover funds within 15 to 30 minutes of an incident [1, 2].
The minister’s call to extend anti-fraud campaigns to rural areas points to a focused effort on grassroots outreach in the coming months to combat the rising threats linked to greater internet penetration in Malaysia.
