KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 12): A total of 1,851 complaints and enquiries related to unlicensed activities and investment scams in Malaysia were received by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) during the first nine months of this year.
As a comparison, SC received 3,475 and 1,798 complaints and enquiries related to unlicensed activities and investment scams in Malaysia for 2020 and 2021, respectively.
The latest data from the SC showed that scammers are still rampant and primarily using social media such as Facebook and messaging application Telegram to attract and scam investors with offers of investment packages/recommendations and claims of unrealistic guaranteed high returns with no risk.
This is on the back of SC’s survey findings that showed Malaysians still have low levels of awareness and knowledge of investment and capital market products.
An SC spokesperson shared that the regulator has taken actions to combat the scams, including blocking the website, and social media created by perpetrators of these scams that target the Malaysian public, as well as putting them on an alert list on SC’s website.
He revealed that 120 social media accounts have been blocked by the SC as of Sept 20 this year, with 85 accounts on the Telegram platform, and the remaining 35 on Facebook. This represents a whopping 243% increase over the 35 social media accounts blocked for the full year in 2021.
SC has also blocked 144 websites during the first nine months of this year, versus 143 websites blocked in the full year of 2021.
The spokesperson also shared that SC made 212 new entries on its investor alert list as at September this year, compared to 275 entries made for the whole of last year.
Against this backdrop, SC also advised investors to always check SC’s investor alert list before investing.
The regulator also stressed that investors must deal only with licensed or registered entities.
“We always tell the market and the public [to] only invest with intermediaries that are licensed, and registered with the SC, because we would have done fit and proper assessment and our laws would cover that. But for those [entities] operating outside and neither licensed nor registered by us, we do not have reach over them. It is going to be very challenging,” said the spokesperson.
In an effort to boost financial literacy and help the public protect themselves from investment scammers, SC will be holding a three-day investor education fair on Oct 14-16 at the Exhibition Hall 5 of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC).
Dubbed InvestSmart® Fest (ISF 2022), SC’s flagship investor education fair will bring together over 40 exhibitors, comprising the Financial Education Network (FEN), Bursa Malaysia, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), investment banks and other capital market products and services providers. It will also include fintech players such as Luno Malaysia and Wahed Investment.
ISF 2022 will feature talks, panel discussions and fireside chats by leading financial and investment experts who will share their insights on the Malaysian capital market, as well as the investment opportunities available.
ISF 2022 will also offer free financial planning sessions to enable members of the public to plan their investment and retirement with the guidance of licensed financial planners. There are nearly 600 #FinPlan4U consultations available, physically and virtually.
For more information on ISF 2022 and the #FinPlan4U financial planning consultations, please visit www.investsmartsc.my or InvestSmart®’s social media accounts.