KUALA LUMPUR (June 23): Bursa Malaysia Bhd says it has been the target of scams with ill-intentioned impersonations of the exchange and its management on social media platforms, in particular its chief executive, and that an alarming number of them are found on Facebook.

"The exchange has found an alarming number of these impersonations on Facebook, in fact over 60 pages this year, with a spike in recent months," Bursa Malaysia said in a statement Friday.
 
It also expressed its support for the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission's (MCMC) recent announcement that it would take action against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, for failing to remove undesirable contents relating to, among others, scam advertisements on the platform.

“As alerted through past media statements and social media postings, the exchange reiterates that these fake pages and sponsored advertisements have no relation to (CEO) Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift nor the exchange,” Bursa said.

It added that any form of communication, other than via the exchange’s own verified and official website and social media channels, is not authorised or lawful, and is designed to mislead or cheat the public.

“Despite submitting recurring take down reports that establish a very simple and clear pattern of impersonation, we are very concerned that incidents of the same nature continue to occur.

“We need the relevant entities, including Meta, to put in place algorithms or checks to prevent, or quickly detect and put a stop to these blatant scams, which thrive on identity theft and fraud,” Muhamad Umar said in the statement.

Similar scam tactics have been found on other notable Malaysian figures and companies, he noted.

“Meta as an organisation should take further steps to prevent confusion and fraud among its users, and reputational damage and negative brand association to the affected individuals or entities” he said.

According to MCMC, a total of 744 reports on online scams involving Facebook from January to 25 May 2023 were reported.

In May 2023, Minister of Communications and Digital Fahmi Fadzil also called out Meta's slow response in detecting scams.

Globally, there have been calls in other jurisdictions for Meta to be more responsible or be held accountable for abetting scams.

“The exchange would like to reiterate to the public that Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift and other Bursa Malaysia representatives do not and will not run sponsored advertisements nor issue invitations to ‘exclusive stock tips’ groups,” Bursa added.