SIBU, May 5 — Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching has urged the public to be more vigilant to avoid falling victim to online scams.
Speaking to reporters after the Tea Talk session at Truedan Sibu on Wednesday night, Teo pointed out that online scam is a global issue and not just in Malaysia.
“Last year, the losses caused by online scams in Malaysia were about RM850 million, while in Singapore, they were S$660 million.
“I hope tonight, we can think about it together; that everybody will know what our responsibilities are, roles that we can play and why they have to be extra careful and who to look to when face certain issues,” she pointed out.
According to her, people easily fall victim to online scams because they lack understanding on ways to protect themselves and their privacy.
“I think the key is as we spend more and more time on social media, let us also spend a reasonable amount of time to understand on how we can be smart and careful users.
“The issues faced on social media are the same throughout Malaysia; fake accounts, scams, people use our accounts, people use our photos; I can say that the issues faced are almost identical. So, we have to be very careful when we select what to post on social media,” she said.
She pointed out that various ministries and government agencies are working together to come up with initiatives and plans to reduce or prevent scams from happening in the country.
“One of the efforts is that we already banned the telecommunication companies to send short message service (SMS) with Uniform Resource Locator (URL). This has been implemented.
“We are also currently reviewing the Personal Data Protection Act to see how we can strengthen that Act, so that data users, processors have heavier responsibility to take care of personal data,” she pointed out.
She also urged people to always counter-check information to avoid any unnecessary losses.
About 50 members of the public attended the Tea Talk session, which was also attended by Sibu MP Oscar Ling. — Borneo Post Online
