The legal protection of e-consumers against e-commerce fraud in Malaysia

Abstract

In the past decade, E-commerce has developed and plays a vital role in our daily lives. However, fraud in E-commerce has increasingly become more prevalent and causes huge monetary loss, especially to E-consumers which usually results in them being unable to get what they have paid for. Fraudsters use various modus operandi to trick E-consumers such as displaying cheap goods via online platforms to induce them to pay for the goods. Despite considerable concerns about E-commerce fraud in Malaysia, the legislative sanction is still inadequate due to the deficiency of the existing legal framework. This paper examines the nature of E-commerce fraud, understand the modus operandi, and look into the legal protection afforded to E-consumers in Malaysia. It employs doctrinal content analysis and secondary data from the Malaysian Penal Code and the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998, academic journals, books, news articles and online databases. The authors contend that the lack of legal protection for E-consumers is due to the insufficiency of the law and the lack of awareness of the gravity of the such crime. Effective governance of fraud in E-commerce is imperative to facilitate prosecution and investigation and holistic protection for the victims of cyber fraud.