UTAR Faculty of Business and Finance organised a talk titled “Cyber Sexual Crime: Scenario in Malaysia” on 30 October 2021 via Zoom.

In general, since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, more people in Malaysia have resorted to using communication technologies, applications and social media in their respective occupation needs, training settings, education and “work from home”. This has also marked an increase of cyber sexual harassment or abusive threats to victims through Facebook, messages, emails, blogs and other cyber apps. Most cyber harassment occurs in anonymity as the perpetrator hides behind a pseudonym. Moreover, most victims do not realise that they are being abused until something serious has happened.

The esteemed speaker for this talk was Ong Chin Lan, who is an executive member of the International Counseling Association of Malaysia (PERKAMA). She was a former senior police officer and has served the Royal Malaysia Police for over 40 years. Ong was once the Assistant Commissioner of the Sexual/Domestic Violence/Child Abuse Investigation Division (D11) of the Royal Malaysia Police. She holds a master’s degree in Psychology and Criminology (Manchester Metropolitan University) and, another master’s degree in Guidance & Counseling (University Putra Malaysia). She is also a registered and practising counsellor (KBPA) who utilises her own work experience to help victims overcome their trauma.

Ong started the talk by presenting the key statistics of the online landscape in Malaysia, followed by an introduction of cyber-crimes. After that, she focused on the different scenarios of cyber sexual crimes in Malaysia. Finally, she shared the relevant laws in Malaysia and the steps that can be taken to avoid falling victim to cyber sexual crimes. The talk was very insightful, interesting, and interactive. The session concluded with a time for Q&A, followed by a quiz that enabled participants to win Touch n’ Go eWallet vouchers worth RM50.