The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has actively blocked approximately 2.4 billion suspicious calls over the past six years, according to Derek Fernandez, the chairman of the commission’s online harms and information security committee.
Since 2020, they have also taken down 4,051 phishing websites and blocked 581 million unsolicited SMS messages since 2021. Moreover, since 2021, MCMC has terminated 238,000 lines associated with suspicious SMS messages, according to FMT.
Fernandez emphasised that these figures represent only a fraction of the actual problem, which is likely seven times greater because many cases go unreported. He made these remarks during a media briefing for the launch of the #JanganKenaScam national scam awareness campaign.
The chairman also highlighted that MCMC possesses the authority to issue instructions for blocking or removing spam, as well as to block websites suspected of involvement in scams or criminal activities.
Additionally, MCMC collaborates with other government agencies, such as the police, upon receiving requests. To date, they have blocked 29 websites based on police requests and flagged 7,754 accounts for service providers’ attention due to impersonation or fraudulent use.
Furthermore, since 12 May, MCMC has prevented 17 million peer-to-peer SMS messages containing hyperlinks from reaching their intended recipients.
