Cyber crime, anti-human trafficking awareness campaign targets six groups

PUTRAJAYA: The Communications and Multimedia Ministry targets six groups in its cyber crime and anti-human trafficking awareness campaign.

The six groups are retirees, the middle class, career women, and secondary school, university and college students.

The ministry’s secretary-general, Datuk Dr Mohd Ali Mohamad Nor said the campaign, carried out with its strategic partners including the Royal Malaysian Police, started early this year and would go on until Dec 31.

Speaking when opening the Issue Briefing 2019: Cyber Crime Prevention and Anti-Human Trafficking Awareness Campaign at the ministry here yesterday, he said among the most glaring cases committed via telecommunications were the Macau Scam, non-existent loans and online shopping scams.

He said in 2018, there were reportedly 3,816 cheating cases via phone calls involving RM162 million in losses for the victims, compared to 2,912 cases with RM65 million in losses in 2017.

On the half-day briefing session yesterday, Mohd Ali said it involved 500 key communicators in the ministry, especially from the Information Department who would explain about cyber crime to the public to create awareness.

The briefing also drew the attention of Communications and Multimedia Minister, Gobind Singh Deo who sat for a while at the back with other participants to listen to the briefing on ‘Managing Cyber Risks’, given by deputy director of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, Saidatul Ashikin Abu Hassan.

Saidatul Ashikin advised social media users not to overshare information with others, but to share information of the dangers of oversharing on social media.

Another speaker, ASP Nasrul Mohd Isa, Telecommunications Crime investigating officer with Bukit Aman Multimedia and Cyber Crime Division, Commercial Crime CID, said most cyber scam victims were those at the end of their career and had a lot of savings. - Bernama