With the rise of self-proclaimed investment gurus who profess that they can help investors grow their money exponentially, the Securities Commission said it is keeping an eye on the issue after cases of scams and misleading information have risen in the country.
SC Chairman Dato’ Seri Dr. Awang Adek Hussin said investor protection remained a top priority for the commission, in his speech, he warned the public about the activities of self-proclaimed but unlicensed investment gurus and financial influencers that are not always helpful to investors.
“The SC is keeping an eye on this and so far, we have taken action against five so-called financial influencers,” he said. “These range from administrative actions to criminal charges for activities relating to unlicensed investment advice and money laundering.”
On scams, he said the SC has been collaborating with relevant stakeholders such as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to disrupt scam activities.
As at end of October 2023, the SC has commenced four enforcement actions against unlicensed activities cases, included 274 new entries on Alert List as well as blocked 128 websites, 113 Telegram accounts, 78 Facebook accounts and 10 Instagram accounts.
Being a key area of concern of the SC, he said a special Task Force within the SC had been formed this year to further enhance the SC’s effectiveness in addressing the proliferation of such scams and other unlicensed activities.
The SC has also developed a Scam Meter page on the its website to help identify and increase awareness of common scam indicators in investment opportunities.
In addition, it will soon be rolling out an Investment Checker, a one-stop search function on its website that will assist investors in identifying the legitimacy of an entity offering an investment opportunity, whether they are licensed and authorised investment entities in the capital market.
