2.6 billion scam calls blocked by MCMC so far

The Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has reported blocking 2.6 billion suspected scam calls by September this year, as revealed in the Dewan Rakyat.

During his speech, Ramkarpal Singh, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms), stated that the MCMC collaborated with the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) to block phone numbers used by scammers.

From October 2022 to August this year, the MCMC had 1,732 cases referred to them, leading to the termination of 134 fraudulent phone numbers and the blocking of 21 suspicious ones.

Additionally, the MCMC has also taken measures to block websites involved in unlawful activities such as fraud and scams.

According to Ramkarpal, within the period from January 1 to August 30 of this year, the MCMC blocked 1,247 websites associated with phishing scams.

These responses were shared in Parliament during Question Time on October 18, in response to a query by Datuk Seri Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz (PN-Tanah Merah) regarding the total losses and number of scam victims in 2023.

With regard to losses, Ramkarpal reported that 2018 had the highest number of cases, reaching 25,609, which resulted in losses of RM23 billion.

On the other hand, this year from January to September, 19,222 fraud cases were recorded, resulting in losses of RM687 million.

In terms of legal actions taken against scammers, Ramkarpal mentioned that from 2021 to July this year, there were 183 charges made under Section 417 of the Penal Code, leading to the sentencing of 617 individuals.

Furthermore, during the same period, 22,837 charges were filed under Section 420 of the Penal Code, and 2,221 individuals were charged.

Ramkarpal also highlighted the effectiveness of the NSRC, citing that from October of the previous year to September this year, they received 53,783 calls, which included reports of fraud cases and providing advice to the public.

In response to Ikmal’s query regarding insiders in banks selling customers’ information to scammers, Ramkarpal stated that this is a complex issue that requires case-by-case investigations to determine the involvement of internal leads.