The Issues of Macau Scam in Malaysia: An Analysis from Perspective Maqasid Syariah

The phenomenon of cybercrime fraud that occurs in Malaysia has now become a hot topic of discussion. The Macau Scam is one of the online fraud syndicates happening in our nation right now. This is because it can be said that every day, there are victims who are involved in the modus operandi of this fraud syndicate. Due to the frequency of people who are too easily deceived by this syndicate’s modus operandi, Macau Scam every day becomes headlines in the newspaper. This causes people to be upset as fraud can happen to anyone if the public is not exposed or is not aware of this matter. There are various awareness campaigns that have been carried out by the authorities to reduce the risk of victim involvement in this fraud syndicate but there are still many more involved and show no reduction. Losing property because of being a victim of "scammers" who roam the internet, indirectly it has harmed modern society, especially Muslims today. This effort needs to be reviewed based on the syariah framework so that improvements can be made to reduce problems related to the cybercrime fraud. Therefore, this study will focus on the Macau Scam issue from the perspective of Maqasid Al-Syariah. The researcher uses a qualitative approach, which means that all information and data are obtained from reading articles, journals, newspapers, and many others. As a result of document analysis, the researcher found that in the context of the principles of Maqasid Al-Syariah, this Macau Scam clearly violates several main principles, namely Hifz Al-Mal, Hifz Al-Nafs, Hifz Al-Din and Hifz Al-Aql. Islam strictly prohibits all forms of fraud and dishonesty, as mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah verse 282.