KUALA LUMPUR: There is a need for more awareness and educational programmes to combat the threat of fake job ads, particularly those leading to human trafficking, says Teo Nie Ching.
The Communications and Digital deputy minister said this was in tandem with the rising number of human traffickers exploiting social media platforms to trick victims.
She said the traffickers would use various modus operandi to promote job scams and trafficked victims to commit online crimes including fraud, identity theft and hacking.
As of October, the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) recorded 58,980 calls, with 22,670 confirmed as genuine cases, resulting in a loss of RM203,274,426.
"Currently, there are 21 million victims worldwide who are believed to be victims of forced labour, with 20 per cent of human trafficking victims being children.
"The US Department of State Trafficking in Persons (TIP) 2023 report has placed Malaysia on the Tier 2 watch list, signifying that it is not fully compliant but making 'significant efforts' to meet the minimum standards. This places Malaysia alongside Vietnam, Egypt, Brunei, Serbia, and others with similar statuses," Teo said at the closing ceremony of Tip The Narrative: Trafficking in the Digital Space campaign by Project Liber8, here, today.
She added that the government including CyberSecurity Malaysia and various NGOs were working on various initiatives to educate Malaysians to avoid becoming a victim.
She said this included producing a movie based on human trafficking which was inspired by a Chinese movie "No More Bets".
The movie would serve to give a local context towards being a victim of trafficking as to visualise to Malaysians that nobody would be immune to fall prey to the traffickers.
"We need to work with our media partners because the role played by the media in educating young people is very important.
"We also need to provide education to the public, especially to Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) leavers and new graduates looking for jobs.
"We need to open their minds so that they realise what is happening in the digital world," she said, adding that the public should conduct a background check before accepting a job overseas.
Meanwhile, Project Liber8 executive director New Shu Shern said the Tip the Narrative campaign in collaboration with journalists and content creators was aimed to simplify discussions around trafficking and make it relatable and comprehensible.
She said the campaign which had over 15 news publications and multiple explainer videos including a spoken word poetry had garnered one million reach and 500,000 engagements.
She said Project Liber8 would collaborate with Meta in 2024 to launch an online safety and digital literacy programme, aiming to empower individuals to contribute to a safer online community.