4.1 Locally - Malaysia

Identity theft happens a lot in Malaysia . Just by searching through the net on this matter can we see that there are quite a number of reports and newspaper articles on that matter . For instance , on December 31st 2010 , it was reported in a website that a woman claimed that her lost identity card was used fraudulently by an unknown party and caused her mobile phone payment to run up to RM 1000 plus . This happened while she was in Singapore and thus it is a confirmed case of identity theft . 

There are even cases where victims of identity theft has been made a bankrupt ! In January 20th , 2010 , a newspaper reported that a "car park attendant was declared bankrupt by the High Court after she failed to settle a bank loan for a RM167,000 Toyota Estima which she claims she never bought." She claimed to have never taken a loan to buy such a car and have never even been inside this car she supposedly bought . The newspaper further reported that she was a mother of 5 who only earns RM 1,100 a month . Because of identity theft , she has fallen prey to those thieves and is put into a situation where she must suffer for what others have done . Clearly it can be seen that identity theft is no small matter . 

So , how does Malaysia safeguard these kind of victims from identity theft ? Now we already have an act called the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 ( PDPA ) and is expected to be enforced soon . How does this act protects us from identity theft then ? In a report written in The Star newspaper , Information, Communications, Culture and Arts Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said that the bill is important in protecting  sensitive personal data, such as information on a person’s health, physical attributes, mental status and religious preferences . Anyone found to have abused the data will face a fine of RM 200,000 fine of 2 years or both . This law aims to protect personal data of a person and their data cannot be used if there is no consent from the data owner . 

Personal data is also protected under 7 principles which are provided in the PDPA 2010 such as the General Principle , the Notice and Choice principle , the Disclosure principle , so on and so forth . These 7 principles are seen in sections 6 to 12 and if followed , will be highly effective in curbing the matters of identity theft .