MACC: South-East Asia a cyber-fraud hotspot

The Star

17 hours ago

All smiles: Azam (fifth left) posing for a group photo at Universiti Teknologi MARA. He was in Sabah to attend the ICTMS 2025 .
KOTA KINABALU: The region is fast becoming a hub for cyber-enabled fraud, with cross-border criminal syndicates exploiting digital platforms and weak governance systems to carry out large-scale financial scams.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki, who disclosed this, said recent investigations, both local and through international collaborations, pointed to a disturbing trend of transnational digital crime networks in South-East Asia.
'Digital platforms have become the preferred medium for fraud syndicates. These groups are sophisticated, well-funded and take advantage of gaps in regulation and enforcement across jurisdictions,' he said at the International Conference on Technology, Management and Sustainability (ICTMS 2025) held here yesterday.
Azam said Malaysia, in working with partners such as Interpol, has taken steps to disrupt these networks, citing Ops Tropicana, a wide-ranging anti-corruption probe into investment scams and digital fraud operations.
'Ops Tropicana uncovered large-scale investment fraud involving the use of online platforms, digital wallets and cross-border fund transfers.
'These syndicates often enlist professional enablers, including accountants, company secretaries and legal advisers to legitimise their operations,' he revealed.
He explained that such operations often presented themselves as legitimate financial services, luring victims through promises of high returns only to funnel illicit profits across borders using digital payment channels that evade conventional monitoring.
'These are not simple scams. They are well-structured operations that combine technology with professional complicity. That makes them much harder to detect and prosecute,' he added.
According to MACC intelligence, he said digital fraud syndicates have evolved from petty online scams into highly organised ecosystems, often operating call centres and shell companies across South-East Asia to mask their true activities.
Stressing international cooperation was crucial in tackling the threat, given its cross-border nature, Azam said MACC has stepped up collaboration with regional enforcement bodies and global partners.
'We are no longer dealing with isolated domestic corruption. The rise of digital fraud means anti-corruption agencies must now also have cybercrime expertise and international intelligence capabilities,' he added.
Azam also said digitalisation without ethical oversight was a recipe for disaster, adding that while digital tools such as AI and blockchain have vast potential, it must be accompanied by strong governance frameworks.
'Without proper oversight, automation can be abused. Without proper controls, these innovations become vulnerabilities, not solutions. Technology is not the enemy. Poor governance is,' he added.
The ICTMS 2025 conference, hosted by the Accounting Research Institute (ARI), focused on the intersection of technology, ethics and sustainable governance.