The Ministry of Communications and Digital (KKD) has revealed that Malaysians lost approximately RM302 million to online scams on Meta-owned platforms Instagram and Facebook. Moreover, the whopping loss amount is only for the period between January 2021 and June 2023.
As reported by Astro Awani/Bernama, KKD Deputy Minister Teo Nie Ching said that from the said amount, RM232 million loss was due to scams on Facebook while the remaining RM70 million was from scams on Instagram. Furthermore, the losses due to scams on Facebook amounted to RM80 million in 2021, RM92 million in 2022 and RM60 million from January to June 2023.
KKD Deputy Minister, Teo Nie Ching
Meanwhile, losses from scams on Instagram amounted to RM20 million in 2021, RM25 million in 2022 and already at RM25 million as of June 2023. The KKD Deputy Minister thus urges Malaysians to be vigilant on social media to avoid being scam victims.
KKD has also met with Meta several times regarding this prevalent issue, with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) even considering taking legal action against the company should this ‘undesirable content’ not be removed. Accordingly, Teo asserted that Meta has promised to improve its efforts to combat online scams on its platforms.
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