3.1 Issues in Malaysia

The technology era brings a new type of cyber crime, the identity theft. Identity Theft is a growing criminal phenomenon which is a serious threat to individual, governments and society in Malaysia. Identity thieves are able to access and use other person’s identity to commit crimes with the help of technology. There are many forms of identity theft cases in Malaysia, some cases are reported to the law enforcement bodies, for example, access to bank accounts by using phishing emails, fake job vacancies on job websites and phone fraud. There are also other cases of identity theft such as the cloning of ATM, credit and debit cards, loan and insurance frauds, online purchasing of goods and services and fraudulent registration of vehicles and utilities.

Most of the victims do not have the chance to get help to recover from their losses or given protection by the respective authorities. These identity documents are sold in the black market and their personal information have been misused by offenders to apply for loans, credit cards, company registrations and commit financial fraud. These victims can’t get help as they are not able to provide suffient evidence to prove their innocence. The consequences on the victims can be very damaging. A victim of identity theft may lose job opportunities, loans for business,  housing or cars and even get arrested for crimes they did not commit.

The authority is facing challenges in combating identity theft cases such as lack of manpower and competent experts to handle these cases. The police and respective departments don’t have well-trained officers especially in the field of cyber security and identity fraud. They also have problems of jurisdiction and specific laws on identity theft.  Malaysian laws such as the Computer Crimes Act 1997, Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 and the Penal Code, which are being used to curb identity theft activities, these laws do not govern and combat identity theft specifically.

According to statistics, cases involving identity thefts have increased over the past 10 years as many people do not aware and ignorant of the existence of identity theft. The reliance on technology and a global information infrastructure such as modern payment system has increased the growth of identity theft cases. A greater public awareness is essential to combat identity theft and it needs on-going attention and more awareness by financial institutions, law enforcement bodies, government and organizations. Users must be educated on the inherent dangers of responding to unknown e-mail and leaving their personal information on the internet. They should be able to identify safety measures to ensure their personal information and documents are secure.

In conclusion, such crimes begins to become a comlicated issue to be solved  in Malaysia, and the govermen mus ensure that there are sufficient law provisions in Malaysia to criminalize such offences. Existing criminal and civil laws may apply only to a certain extent and is not intended to be comprehensive, as new cyber crimes like identity theft need suitable new laws to combat new crimes and  these identity thieves. Efficient law enforcement must be done to combat and eradicate this problem to avoid greater loss arise from this crime in the future.