How to Report an MLM Scam in Malaysia: Who to Call First and What to Bring

First hours: call 997, then your bank

If you transferred money recently, call 997 now and read the rest later. 997 is the hotline of the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC), set up in October 2022 to coordinate a fast response to online financial fraud. It brings together the police (PDRM), Bank Negara Malaysia, the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre (NFCC), the communications regulator MCMC, banks and telcos. Its job is to try to trace the stolen funds and stop further losses before the money is moved on.

On operating hours, official pages disagree. The Government's MyGovernment portal lists 997 as a daily, 24-hour line. The NFCC's own NSRC page still shows 8.00am to 8.00pm every day, including public holidays. Do not spend time working out which is current. Call 997, and if you cannot get through, call your bank's 24-hour hotline. The number is on the back of your bank card.

Have these ready: your name, IC number and bank account number, the account number you paid into, the amount, and the date and time of each transfer.

Know what 997 is not. The NFCC describes it as an emergency response number. It does not take general complaints, it does not give case updates, and it is not the place to call about a blocked bank account. The NFCC also says plainly that quick action can reduce your losses but there is no guarantee you will get your money back, and that the chances are slim once more than 24 hours have passed. Even then, report the transfer to your bank.

Lodge a police report within 24 hours

The NFCC's guidance is to lodge a police report at the nearest police station within 24 hours, after you have called 997 or your bank. Without a police report, the police cannot take follow-up action. In July 2025 the Home Minister said a call to 997 would itself be recorded as a police report, yet the MyGovernment page updated in July 2026 still lists a police report as a separate step. So ask the 997 officer whether a report has been recorded for you. If you are not given a report number, go to the station.

Fraud is investigated by the Commercial Crime Investigation Department, known as JSJK in Malay and CCID in English. PDRM describes its main function as arresting, investigating and prosecuting offenders for fraud, criminal breach of trust, forgery and cybercrime, whether they act alone or as a syndicate. Keep your report number and the name of the investigating officer. Follow-up goes through that officer or the JSJK office at your district police headquarters, not through 997.

Next, run the recruiter's bank account and phone number through Semak Mule, the JSJK portal where the public can check bank accounts, phone numbers and company names used in commercial crime cases. A match is worth adding to your report. A clean result is not a clearance, because the portal reflects accounts and numbers that have already been reported to the police.

Which regulator handles which kind of scheme

The police can take a report on any of these. The regulators below act only within their own laws, so send your complaint to the one that matches how the scheme made its money. The Securities Commission publishes a similar who-handles-what table on its scam page. If a scheme fits two categories, report to both.

• Recruitment-driven MLM, pyramid and referral schemes, and direct selling without a licence: KPDN, which enforces the Direct Sales and Anti-Pyramid Scheme Act 1993. Section 27B of the Act bans promoting a pyramid scheme. Before you file, check the company's licence status and our list of revoked and blacklisted companies.
• Schemes that take deposits and promise a return, whether in money or precious metal: Bank Negara Malaysia. Accepting deposits without a licence is an offence under section 137(1) of the Financial Services Act 2013. Check the Financial Consumer Alert List (our Ponzi vs pyramid scheme guide explains how to read it), then call BNMLINK on 1-300-88-5465, Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.00pm, excluding public holidays, or use the web form at bnmlink.bnm.gov.my. BNMLINK is the contact centre that older articles call BNMTELELINK. The number is the same.
• Investment schemes and other capital market activities run without a licence: Securities Commission Malaysia (SC). Check the Investor Alert List, then email [email protected] or call 03-6204 8999, Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 6.00pm, excluding public holidays.
• Health products that are not registered, or that look fake or illegal: the Ministry of Health. Search the product on the NPRA's QUEST3+ product search. Our NPRA product check guide shows each step. NPRA directs reports about unregistered products to the Ministry's public complaints system, SISPAA, at moh.spab.gov.my, and takes quality reports on registered products itself. You can also look up a product on CheckMLM.

How to file a KPDN complaint through e-Aduan

For MLM and pyramid complaints, KPDN's e-Aduan portal is the main channel because it gives you a reference number you can track.

1. Go to eaduan.kpdn.gov.my and choose Aduan Kepenggunaan (consumer complaint). New users register with an IC or passport number and a password, then open Aduan Baru.
2. State the facts in order: who recruited you, what was promised, what you paid and to which account, and how members are told they will earn. Dates and amounts carry more weight than adjectives.
3. Attach your evidence. The checklist in the next section covers what to include.
4. Save the complaint number. The Semak Aduan tab on the same page shows the status when you enter that number or your IC number.

Other ways to reach KPDN

KPDN also takes complaints on its hotline 1-800-886-800, by WhatsApp on 019-848 8000, by email at [email protected], through the ezAdu mobile app, and through its state offices, whose phone numbers are listed on kpdn.gov.my. The phone lines are staffed during office hours on working days. KPDN's own notices give slightly different times, so check the current ones on kpdn.gov.my before you rely on them.

If you are still deciding whether what you joined is illegal, our guides to pyramid scheme warning signs and MLM scam red flags cover that ground. The legal test itself is explained in our guide to the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Act.

Evidence checklist: what to bring to every report

The same bundle works for the bank, the police and the regulators. Build it once, keep the originals, and hand over copies.

• Proof of payment: transfer slips, receipts, cash deposit machine receipts and e-wallet records showing the receiving bank, account number, account holder's name, amount, date and time.
• Who was involved: names, phone numbers and email addresses of the recruiter and uplines, plus the company name and registration number if one was given.
• Conversations: WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS, email and call logs. Export the full chat where you can. A screenshot should show the phone number and the date.
• Marketing material: brochures, compensation plan slides, income claims, social media posts, and the addresses of websites and social media accounts. Capture these early, before pages are taken down.
• Paperwork: membership forms, contracts, order forms and delivery notes.
• A one-page timeline: how you found the scheme, each payment, each promise made, and when the payouts stopped.
• Other victims: names and contacts of people who are willing to be contacted by investigators.

Getting your money back: what is realistic

Reporting and recovery are two separate things. Regulators and police investigate offences. None of them acts as your debt collector, and the SC states that it cannot act as your legal adviser or be involved in private civil disputes. Investigations can take a long time, and if the operator has already spent or moved the money there may be little left to return.

For smaller sums there is a civil route you can run yourself: the Tribunal for Consumer Claims (TTPM), set up under section 85 of the Consumer Protection Act 1999. It hears claims of up to RM50,000 that arose within the past three years. The filing fee is RM5. You file Form 1 online through e-Tribunal at ttpm.kpdn.gov.my or at a Tribunal registry, and lawyers are not allowed to represent the parties at the hearing. An award is final and binding and can be enforced as a Magistrate's Court order. Failing to comply with one after 14 days is an offence.

There are two catches. You need a respondent you can name and serve with the claim, which rules out a recruiter who has vanished. And the Tribunal is for consumers, meaning individuals who buy goods or services for personal or household use. TTPM's own FAQ says a person who buys for business purposes is not a consumer. A claim over overpriced products you bought to use yourself is therefore a better fit than a claim for money you paid to become a distributor. For larger or more tangled losses, ask a lawyer about the civil courts. The same claim cannot run in both places at once.

One more option applies only if you signed up with a licensed direct selling company in the past few days. The 1993 Act sets a cooling-off period of ten working days, starting the day after the contract is made. Our cooling-off period guide walks through the notice and the day count. Under section 26 you can rescind the contract within that period by serving notice in the prescribed form on the company, by hand or by registered post to the address in the contract.

Watch for the second scam: recovery agents

People who have just lost money are a ready-made target list. Expect a call or message from a lawyer, an agent or an officer who says your funds have been traced and will be released once you pay a processing fee, a tax or a deposit. The Securities Commission has warned about impostors who approach scam victims promising refunds, and states that it has not and does not authorise any of its officers to solicit monies. Its advice to victims is blunt: do not make any further payments in the hope that you will get your money back.

Two checks from the NFCC help here. NSRC, the police, Bank Negara and the banks will only contact you if you have already lodged a report with them. They will never ask for your online banking username, password, PIN, TAC or OTP. Anyone who asks for those, or for payment up front, is not recovering anything.

Warn others: file a community report on CheckMLM

A complaint to a regulator is not something the next person will find when they search the scheme's name. Once you have reported to the authorities, file a community report on CheckMLM. Your name and email are optional. Every report is reviewed by our team before it is published, and only verified reports appear on the community reports page. Describe what happened to you, with dates and amounts, and leave out accusations you cannot back with evidence.

A CheckMLM report does not replace a police report or a complaint to KPDN, Bank Negara or the SC. It sits alongside them, so that someone doing their homework tonight has more to go on than you did.