KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — The government is allocating RM30 million in Budget 2025 to bolster efforts to curb scams as well as enhancing cyber security in Malaysia, said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

The Finance Minister said the role of the National Scam Response Centre will be intensified with a RM20 million allocation while the National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA) will be given an additional 100 posts with an extra allocation of RM10 million.

He said that countries that champion freedom of extremism have now taken several measures to curb excesses including those that cause death through social media applications.

"Cyber threats are now increasingly threatening social order and becoming more worrying. The issue of scams, child pornography, cyber bullying on social media resulting in loss of life is a big issue that must be curbed.

"Suspicious transactions of more than RM380 million were successfully blocked in curbing scam cases in Malaysia. Despite this, the scam issue is still seen as serious with increasing cases,” he said when tabling Budget 2025 in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Anwar said a National Fraud Portal has been launched as an effort to combat online fraud with this portal facilitating automatic detection of suspicious transactions.

"Act 574 (Penal Code) and Act 593 (Criminal Procedure Code) have been amended to enable more effective action to be taken by enforcement agencies to curb mule account syndicates this year,” he said.

In order to curb cyber bullying which is becoming more and more disturbing, he said the Online Safety Bill will be enacted to ensure that service providers are also responsible in improving the level of safety, especially involving children. — Bernama