KUALA LUMPUR – The rising occurrence of online fraud is not a new phenomenon, and every day we hear various stories of people who fall victim to syndicates with elaborate and well-orchestrated plans to dupe individuals of their money.
Recently, Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil himself was also targeted by a suspected scam syndicate.
The Lembah Pantai MP posted on Twitter that his mobile phone number had been added to a WhatsApp group by a suspected scammer.
He then posted a message in the WhatsApp group itself that he had reported the existence of the group to the authorities.
After he sent the message, he was ejected from the chat group.
“The scammer had added me to the WhatsApp scam group,” he said.
“When I said that I had alerted police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, I was kicked out.”
Fahmi urged any individual who is a victim of fraud to immediately call 997.
Scammer masukkan saya dalam group WhatsApp scam.
— Fahmi Fadzil ?? (@fahmi_fadzil) December 25, 2022
Bila saya kata dah alert PDRM & SKMM, saya kena kick.
Jika anda mangsa scam, sila segera call 997. pic.twitter.com/uFVoNiy99J
Responding to his Twitter post, one user wondered who was to blame for leaking personal information to the scam group involved.
Another user, @faizwahab, urged Fahmi to find a solution to such instances of data breach and how phone numbers belonging to the people are obtained by syndicates.
Meanwhile, @Badboy2662 suggested that Fahmi contact counterparts from neighbouring countries to discuss methods to tackle scammers on a more comprehensive and wider scale. – The Vibes, December 25, 2022
