CYBERJAYA, July 2 — Some 3,906 complaints were lodged to the Cyber999 Help Centre during the movement control order (MCO) period from March 18 to June 30, an increase of more than 90 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin said the reported cases involved cyberbullying, fraud, intrusion, hacking attempt and spam, which mostly occurred in urban areas with a high-speed internet connection.

"We received various complaints with multiple types of modus operandi including promotional packages from agents who claimed they represented telco companies,” he told a press conference after receiving the telecommunications users’ complaints and cybercrime memorandum from the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM) here today.

The Cyber999 Help Centre is operated by the Malaysia Computer Emergency Response Team (MyCERT) under the CyberSecurity Malaysia, which provides emergency response on computer security related matters such as cyber harassment, malware, intrusion, hack attempts and other information security breaches.

Zahidi said there were offers which promised a variety of free services but in a few months, the customers’ bills spiked to RM5,000.

"Most of the victims were students, and some of them were even blacklisted for not being able to pay the bill,” he said.

Among other cyber fraud incidents were misuse of personal data, online scam, and soft loan scam, he added.

Zahidi stressed that the government viewed seriously cybercrime issues such as online scam and gambling.

Discussions between the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, CyberSecurity Malaysia and private entities had been held to allow them to carry out their duties accordingly in the fight against cybercrime, he said. — Bernama