A Zoom Talk: “Scams in the AI Age: How Technology is Changing Financial Fraud – and How We Can Fight Back” was organized by USAM (University of Strathclyde Alumni Malaysia) on 19th September 2026 from 8:30 pm to 10:00 pm. The Main Speaker was Ts. Is. Eugene Teow, Cybersecurity & Cyber Scam Specialist / Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation Member. The productive and informative 90 minutes Zoom Talk was moderated by YBhg. Datuk Kamarudin Md Ali, EXCO – Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) / President, British Graduate Association Malaysia (BGAM).

The Opening Address was delivered by Ms. Kathryn Toh, President USAM 2026/2028.

The Q&A session was competently facilitated by Mr. Andrew Chong, Strategy Coach. There were a total of 326 participants. MCPF Penang had two participants – Mr. Johnny Michael Tan, Interim MCPF Penang Secretary & Mr. James Mohan, Interim Penang SLC Member / Interim MCPF Southwest (Barat Daya) DLC Chairman.

Topics covered included: 1. New Scam tactics & real causes; 2. AI, Deepfakes & Social Engineering; 3. protecting yourself, family & business; 4. The Future of Fraud Prevention.

Highlights / Key Takeaways:

Preceding the Talk itself, Datuk Kamarudin Md Ali thanked the online audience for taking their precious Saturday night time to join this program. He then introduced the Speaker Ts. Is. Eugene Teow. Talk was segmented sub-topic by: 1.1 the new face of Financial Fraud; 1.2 How Financial Fraud happens? 1.3 Major Fraud Scenarios; 1.4 Cyber Hygiene; 1.5 Government Intervention; 2. Reported Malaysia Statistics from 2020 to 2025 revealed an alarming spike from 2024 (35,000 cases / losses of MYR 1.5 billion) to 2025 (67,735 cases / losses of MYR 2.97 billion); 3. Major updated Scam Fraud Scenarios mirrored latest trends and business scenarios including cited cases covering Deepfakes investment video pitches by renowned politicians; recent Seng Heng data compromising over 1.3 million Data Records; Strait of Hormuz conflicts; UMNO developments, bogus TheStar App; and even the latest Apple i18 mobile phones;

4. Participants were briefed on the destructive ‘Fraud Chain’ encompassing: 4.1 Data Collection; 4.2 Victim profiling; 4.3 Social Engineering; 4.4 Device Compromise; 4.5 Credential Theft; 4.6 Unethical Transactions; and Financial Losses. 5. New aspects and terminologies shared included: 5.1 Scammers playing the patience approach of ‘Harvest Now, Decrypt Later’; 5.2 Keylogger – how Scammers monitor your devices (PCs, laptops, tablets and mobiles) and gain access to our Username / Passwords; 5.3 Social Engineering through Fraudsters targeting victims through Fear, Greed, Trust, Urgency; 5.4 Vulnerabilities of both WhatsApp and Telegram; 5.5 Epistemic Trespassing; 6. Anti-virus is no longer adequate! 7. Golden Rules to protect oneself; 8. Government Actions.

The Q&A session (~40 minutes) had a lot of queries by the Zoom virtual audience including: 1. is the Government intervention adequate and effective? Comparative table amongst researched South East Asian nations (Singapore, Malaysia. Thailand. Indonesia, Vietnam & Philippines) was covered with Singapore being in the forefront although legislatively Malaysia pioneered this thrust; 2. Scam resilience between Android versus iPhone… Whilst the latter is recommended, the fundamental Cyber Hygiene of updating one’s software version cannot be ignored; 3. Password Manager… When in doubt we can check with AI tools like ChatGPT where we can copy/paste the settings and confirm its adequacy; 4. Perception and fear of lack of controls, coordination amongst Government agencies (MOF, Bank Negara, Data / Communication Ministries, etc), Financial Institutions & Telco providers. Conclusion: An interesting topic of contemporary concern, impact on personal, family and businesses.