Whoscall powered by Gogolook, a leading brand in TrustTech that enhances global security with anti-fraud technologies and risk management services together with the Royal Police Malaysia (PDRM) today jointly organised the first ‘Scam Free Malaysia Carnival’ to create a scam-free community by helping the public prevent online and call scams. At the carnival, PDRM and Whoscall fortified its commitment with the announcement of a giveaway of one year Whoscall Premium worth over RM87 million to help safeguard Malaysians against scams. The one-year Whoscall Premium provides users access to diverse anti-scam tools such as Caller ID; Auto Spam Calls Block; Auto Update Database including its latest feature Auto WhatsApp Caller ID and URL Scanner all without ads.
The event was attended by government agencies, financial institutions and partners such as Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), National Scam Response Centre (NSRC), CyberSecurity Malaysia (CSM), Bank Negara Malaysia, together with local banks Bank Muamalat, Bank Simpanan National; Telco partners CelcomDigi, U Mobile, TIME dotCom Berhad, Telekom Malaysia, YTL Communications and Tune Talk.
Manwoo Joo, Chief Operating Officer of Gogolook said, “According to the 2023 Asia Scam Report recently published by Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) and Gogolook, victims’ inability to recognize scams was identified as the primary factor contributing to their susceptibility. Malaysia is the 3rd lowest country among 11 other Asian regions in terms of confidence level in recognising a scam. Phone calls (82.7%) is the leading channel used by scammers in Malaysia followed by SMS (51.5%) and instant messaging apps (42.9%). This report highlights the urgent need for a real-time preventive step and Whoscall is ready to act as the first line of defence against scams. It is equipped with a powerful anti-fraud technology application with the largest database in East Asia and Southeast Asia with 2.6 billion entries and over 100 million downloads to-date. Through our contribution of 1 Million Whoscall Premium, we can proactively safeguard 1 Million Malaysians from being scammed.”
Manwoo Joo continued, “With the shared database from the PDRM Commercial Criminal Investigation Department (CCID) portal, we were able to add the PDRM tagging on unknown calls under ‘Scammer (Verified by PDRM)’. This method proved to be very successful in deterring Malaysians from picking up the scam calls. Data collected for the last 11 months showed that the user pick-up rate of scam calls dropped by nearly 50% between January and November 2023. Another achievement is that during the same period, 41% of fraud numbers provided by the PDRM CCID portal have been blocked by Whoscall users. We are extremely pleased with the outcomes and are unwavering in our dedication to supporting PDRM CCID in safeguarding Malaysians against scammers and fraudulent activities. ”
CP Dato’ Sri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf, Director of Bukit Aman Commercial Criminal Investigation Department (CCID) who delivered a speech at the Scam Free Malaysia Carnival said, “Data shows that the number of online fraud cases for the year 2023 has increased by 37.5%. 32,462 cases of online fraud with a loss value of RM1,319 million were recorded from January to November 2023. Meanwhile, during the same period in 2022, the record was a total of 23,608 cases involving a loss value of RM771.1 million. Based on these figures, we anticipate that cases of online fraud will continue to increase if appropriate preventive measures are not taken from now. PDRM is pleased that Whoscall has stepped forward to join hands with PDRM in this battle against scams. Leveraging on its powerful anti-fraud technology, Malaysians can now protect themselves in real-time against online scams by downloading the Whoscall app.”
ASP Tuan Rahmat Fitri delivered an Anti-Scam Talk together with Ts. Mohd Zabri Adil Bin Talib, Head of Division, Cyber Security Responsive Services of CyberSecurity Malaysia during the Scam Free Malaysia Carnival, shared insights into the common channels for scams in Malaysia, the key factors contributing to Malaysians falling prey to scams and the typical scenarios and techniques employed by fraudsters. Additionally, PDRM also provided in-depth information on recent love scam cases and gave a preview of an upcoming anti-love scam movie titled “OPPA” which is based on a true story. The movie is a collaboration between PDRM and Dream Film. The public can view the trailer of the OPPA movie here Awareness Film OPPA New Trailer.
Redeem 1 year of Whoscall Premium for FREE before 31 March 2024 at http://redeem.whoscall.com/ and use the promo code “PDRMLawanScams”.
To access the full Asia Scam Report, please refer to https://files.gogolook.com/2023-asia-scam-report.pdf . For more information on upcoming events, educational campaigns, and resources as part of the Scam Free Malaysia Campaign, please visit Whoscall social media accounts at https://www.facebook.com/whoscall.malaysia/ and https://www.tiktok.com/@whoscall.malaysia .
We invite all Malaysians to join us in this collective effort to combat scams and protect our communities.
