MCPF Penang Interim Secretary Mr. Johnny Michael Tan attended (via Virtual Webinar) the BGAM Lecture Series entitled “Scam Awareness 2.0: Action & Prevention organized by BGAM (British Graduates Association of Malaysia) in collaboration with HELP University, Hainan Professional & Graduate Team Malaysia (Economics Bureau) and MCPF was successfully held at Auditorium, Level 4, HELP University, Kuala Lumpur on Saturday 8th August 2026 from 10:00 am till completion at around 1:20 pm.

Agenda:

1. Opening Remark by YBhg. Datuk Kamarudin bin Md Ali, BGAM President / EXCO MCPF;

2. Opening Remark by YBhg. Dato’ Sri Professor Dr. Akhbar Satar, Director & Professional Chair, Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice. HELP University;

3. Official Speech by Guest of Honour YBhg. Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr. Syed Hamid bin Tan Sri Jaafar Albar, Former Minister of Home Affairs, 1st MCPF Chairman, and, Chancellor of AeU Malaysia;

4. Keynote Address by YBhg. Dato’ Dato’ Seri Ramli bin Mohamed Yoosuf, Former Director, Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID), Bukit Aman;

5. Forum:

5.1 Moderated by Dato’ Yong Soo Heong, President of Malaysian Press Institute (MPI);

5.2 Panel Speaker #1 ASP (R) Rahmat Fitri Abdullah, Consultant, Persatuan Komuniti Anti-Scam Malaysia; and

5.3 Panel Speaker Ts. Is. Eugene Teow, MCPF Member;

6. Q&A

7. Souvenir Presentation & Lunch

Key Highlights / Takeaway:

1. Emcee YBrs. Mr. Garry Chow, BGAM Honorary Secretary welcomed all invited VIPs, Guests and Participants who were physically present;

2. Note that up to 200 participants were invited to join via Webinar connection.

3. Amongst MCPF Stalwarts present were YBhg. Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Lee Lam Thye, MCPF Honorary Life Member; and. YBhg. Dato’ Seri Ayub bin Yaakob, Past MCPF Senior Vice-Chairman;

4. Cybercrime driven by Artificial Intelligence is now a serious Global, Transnational, Regional and National Challenge;

5. Trust and Ethical Leadership; increased Information, Vigilance, Digitally Aware Public, coordinated Battle by all is a must;

6. Cybercrime Scam has now gone beyond mere hacking of one’s technological equipment / gadgets, individual victims. It now hacks the Human Psychology via a false sense of heightened Urgency to manipulate social emotions;

7. The speakers present reached the audience via personal experiences, and those involving others from various walks of lives, social, academic, industry, government agencies and business entities;

8. SE Asia has become the bedrock of Scam Industry where losses continue to mount at terrifying monetary scales impacting youngsters up to senior citizens;

9. Trust and deception are used to break the resilience of victims, which can happen in an opportunistic manner or can be planned over time;

10. Ensuring continual Scam Awareness is our Civic Responsibility. A single conversation about Scam can very well yield the avoidance of yet another victim falling prey;
11. Trust has to be built in Governance and Integrity;

12. Startling statistics of losses through Cybercrime Scams in Malaysia average RM 5k per minute.

13. It is estimated that 70% of Scam Victims DO NOT report to the authorities;

14. Organized Crime is now a Corporate Franchise! Scam compounds are the Factories and Scam Technologies have become the Engines;

15. Malware is no more operating in the shadows;

16. NSRC 997 was repeatedly iterated by various speakers;

17. Various platforms of Crime has now converged e.g. Drug Trafficking. Gaming, Child Abuse, Tobacco smuggling, and more;

18. The audience were ‘Educated’ through a simple everyday phone application that is now ubiquitous in our social lifestyle… WhatsApp. A live demo to depict how many of us users have failed to install a ‘Two Step Verification via the ‘Setting’ outlines our vulnerabilities;

19. Lazy ‘Password’ setups like 88888888, 0124456, Date of Birth and Mobile phone number must be avoided.

20. A spokesperson from NSRC (National Scam Response Centre) left an indelible closing quotation to the audience “I DO NOT HOPE FOR YOU TO CALL US!”. Invariably this underlines that SCAM victims have been informed, educated and ahead of the Scam crooks. Of course, this is ‘Utopia’.