NST Leader: Of scam ads and social media

New Straits Times

20-05-2025

ONLINE scams have grown to be a global business empire, tempting The Economist to label it "Scam Inc". Different scammers, different scams, but they are united in one purpose: to cheat others of their money.
In Malaysia, romance scams used to be a regular occurrence. Of late, investment scams have replaced love scams. According to the Scam Report 2024, Malaysia lost RM54 billion to scams, of which RM13 billion was from fraudulent investment schemes.
If in the beginning investment scammers relied on emails, phone calls and text messages, today they have advanced to deepfakes, the use of fake audios or videos to trick victims into believing them to be real.
No thanks to artificial intelligence, even the most tech-savvy find it hard to tell the difference between the two. Just as romance scammers are doing. And they all play out on social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, TikTok and YouTube.
Of these, Telegram is popular among scammers targeting Amanah Saham investors. When asked by a "potential investor", one of the scammers put it thus: "Place RM1,000 and in two to three hours you will make RM32,000." One needn't be discerning to spot the financial nonsense.
As the conversation continues, a string of messages appear saying they have made this much and that much, suspiciously echoing the scammer. Scam Inc indeed.
If social media platforms are the common denominator, then that is where the solution to the problem of investment scams is. But how? One way is for social media platforms to take down such fraudulent ads and scams.
Tech titans have gone public by saying that they are taking down fake posts and ads. But countries around the world think it is not robust enough. Because of this, the European Union and the United Kingdom have taken the legal route to tackle the issue.
But Ireland, seeing the existing EU laws as insufficient, is proposing that the EU make Big Tech bear responsibility for scam ads. Good idea, but a difficult one to implement, given that Washington is pushing Brussels to go light on its regulations against Silicon Valley.
According to the Financial Times, the proposal by the Irish Finance Ministry is gaining traction. The interesting thing about the Irish idea is that it is not after the content of the ads, but the advertisers.
Ireland and 14 others which support the proposal want social media platforms to only post ads from authorised financial service providers. Makes sense. There is a reason for the Irish rush to get the amendment passed.
If the Financial Times is right, 75 per cent of the Bank of Ireland's customers have lost their money to investment scams. Being the country's biggest bank, that must add up to a humongous sum.
Unlike the EU and the UK, Malaysia doesn't have the muscle to enforce such a legal regime. But it is not without an option.
Malaysia can, like the EU, act as a bloc through Asean. But reaching consensus among the 10 members would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Given the state of the world, Asean has no choice but to find the needle.