Over 6k loan shark mobile phone numbers terminated

The government has traced and barred 6,163 mobile phone numbers of loan sharks or Ah Long found on numerous stickers, posters, advertisements and business cards during operations nationwide last year.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Abu Seman Yusop said the authorities have managed to detect the persons behind the numbers and cancelled the numbers with the cooperation of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

"Don’t think we cannot trace them. Our agencies have the mechanism to do that. We know who are behind the numbers and we have taken the necessary action.

"We have also asked the telecommunications providers to cancel their numbers," he told a press conference at the ministry today after chairing the meeting of the main committee on the awareness campaign against Ah Long.

Complete article on TheSun website

Blackberry Users: Information on your device could be at risk!

If you are using a Blackberry for work or personal reasons, you should be cautious on what you do with it. No matter if it is a software upgrade from your mobile operator.

Recently, late June last month, United Arab Emirates' largest telecommunications operator Etisalat told its 145,000 BlackBerry customers to "upgrade" the software on their Blackberry devices by downloading a program or a "patch" that Etisalat claimed would improve performance. However users who upgraded that patch said that it resulted the device’s battery to drain faster.

According to Nigel Gourlay, a Doha-based Sun-certified Java programmer, once the "patch"(surveillance application) is installed, it potentially gives Etisalat the power to view all emails and text messages sent from the BlackBerry.- Source

The maker of Blackberry, Research in Motion (RIM) Ltd in statement claims that it did not authorised the software installation.

Full story here:

• BlackBerry users tricked
• UAE Mobile Carrier Pushes Spyware to BlackBerry Subscribers
  
• RIM Scrubs Spyware From UAE BlackBerrys
• BlackBerry rogue software leaves sour taste in UAE
  

Similar to what is happening to the Windows operating system, hackers are targeting popular mobile operating systems out there for financial reason. In this case, Blackberries are targeted as it involves business users where information stored on the device is critical to them or the company they are working with.

Blackberry including other popular operating system such as the one running on the iPhone, Android and Symbian will continue to be the target of hackers as long as it remains popular.

One simple precaution that users could take is to install a mobile antivirus software that includes a firewall.

Hopefully, the mobile operators in Malaysia who offers Blackberry including DiGi, Celcom & Maxis will not make the same mistake.

Celcom to stop campaign, refund customers

Based on what happened earlier to the 100days 100cars campaign, MCMC has instructed Celcom to do the following:

• A-cease immediately the contest “Celcom 100 Days 100 Cars”;

• B-refund all subscribers that have participated in the contest all sum charged by Celcom;

• C-inform all its subscribers on the Direction made in paragraph (a)and (b) above; and
  

• D-comply with licence condition no. 4 of the Application ServiceProvider Class licence which states as follows:
  

“The Licensee shall comply with any Consumer Codes registered under the Act which are relevant to the activities of the
licensee.”

Source

Celcom got raided by Jakim (Updated)

Well, not really got "raided" but Jakim "instructed" Celcom to stop its 100days 100cars contest.

This is what the CEO of Celcom said when Celcom announced the first winner of the contest that walked away with a Toyota Camry 2.0E 1AZ-FE.

"This is the biggest ever promotion Celcom has introduced thus far, and this is something that only the unbeatable can do. The main reason we have launched a campaign of this magnitude is to reward our loyal customers for their continuous support and to thank them for staying true to Celcom,” - Dato’ Sri Shazalli, CEO, Celcom

And this is was the reply:

"This contest is against Islamic rules. The contest contained elements of gambling"- Perlis Mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin.

Since late yesterday, the 100days100cars website was showing this notice:


Final decisions to be announced soon. More here.


UPDATE 1

MCMC directs Celcom to stop the 100days 100cars contest.- Read here.

Will Malaysians be free from SMS spamming?

Since last year, there are hundreds of complaints out there from users who received SMSes or charged for SMS that they never requested, probably there are some thousand of users out there that choose to ignore these SMSes and was not aware that they were charged for it.

How long will these carry on? Is MCMC just watching or benefiting from these issues? or they are not capable of handling it? Whatever the reasons are, hundreds of Malaysians out there still get spammed today.

Maxis in a recent press release claims that they have successfully installed Anti-spam and Anti spoofing solution operational since July 2007.Read here.

According to a recent article from Jeff Ooi, Mr Lim CH, a Malaysian and a Maxis Postpaid user, has been charged for receiving spam, 24 times, from a company called Matrix Internet & Wireless Sdn Bhd.The itemised bill dated September 07, 2007.

If Maxis claims its Anti-Spam and Anti Spoofing has been installed since July 2007, and managed to stop over 1.2 million intrusive SMS from reaching customers, then I think the "solution" is not good enough!!!

List of cases compounded by MCMC this year until 15 September 2007(click image)

So compound is effective? Which is aimed to stop content providers from doing their illegal activities. It is believed that some of these companies are repeated offenders, up to 4 times. If its true, then it proofs that fines or compound has failed to meet its goal.

Why MCMC is holding itself from taking serious action against content providers with repeated offense and Telcos in the country? What or who does it fear? Why does these repeated offenders still doing business in Malaysia?

By the end of this month, Maxis and Celcom will soon implement online billing for its prepaid customers. Will these help reduce spamming and spoofing? Postpaid customers with bills are still being scammed.

MCMC has got a good track record in the country. Last heard, the interference between the 3.5Ghz frequency and Measat 3 is still not solved. The question here is, why was the license issued at first place?? Internet users has raised a lot of issues regarding quality of internet service in the country for years, yet it is still not solved. Since there are still no proper and strict guideline on internet service, we still don't get to achieve the internet speed that was promised.Thanks to best effort, and MCMC.

In Malaysia, license are worth up to millions.

I believe, if we have a good Commission and a good Ministry, we are guaranteed to enjoy world class telecommunication service. In the US, license are worth billions, and they can handle it. We can't even solve SMS spamming and spoofing.-Telco Talk Malaysia

KTAK: Block spamming NOW!!!!

Energy, Water and Communication Minister has ruled that all Celcos in the country must implement anti-spamming and anti-spoofing solution by the end of this month.

Earlier MCMC has ruled that all prepaid user should have access to their bills by this month. DiGi has done it, but the remaining two telcos seems to be quite.

Read the article reported by the TheStar.

Malaysian lose RM35million to sms scams

Here are some points:

• 163 cases were reported since January
• syndicate members raked in about RM5mil a month just by sending out SMSes to the Malaysian public
• VICTIM receives a call that he or she has won a lucky draw by an electrical company based in Hong Kong and that he/she needs to pay a 5% tax to retrieve the goods worth an estimated RM100,000
• VICTIM receives a call from a Mandarin-speaking person saying that he/she has won a lucky draw contest and to contact the phone numbers given to collect the winnings. But he/she must pay a transfer fee to be deposited into an account. After depositing the money, the victim will be asked to contact another party to collect the prize. When the victim contacts the other party, he/she is asked to pay other charges
• VICTIM receives a call from a person claiming to be a court official. He says the victim has failed to attend a court hearing. This will be followed by another call from a man claiming to be from Bukit Aman. The second caller informs the victim that he/she is involved in a criminal case and has to deposit a certain sum of money or his/her bank account will be frozen

Read the full article here.

Have you been scammed before? Comments are most welcomed.

Think you got the highest bill? Try RM806,400,000,000,000.01

On April last year, an ex-TM fixed line customer nearly fainted when he receives a Telekom bill after cancelling it fews months back in January last year.

Yahaya Wahab, from northern Kedah, says that he discontinued the phone line when his father died and settled the outstanding amount of RM84, the New Straits Times reported.

Telekom Malaysia later sent him a RM806,400,000,000,000.01($218 trillion) bill and was ordered to pay the bill within 10 days or face prosecution.

Quoting from Associated Press, Yahaya said "If the company wants to seek legal action as mentioned in the letter, I'm ready to face it.In fact, I can't wait to face it."

Read the AP report here.

Does anyone knows what happened to the bill??

Fomca calls for drastic action against SMS spoofing on POSTPAID CUSTOMER

Did you read the title of this article?

Read carefully..

The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) wants the Government to take stronger steps in dealing with SMS-spoofing, reported by Steven Patrick,The Star.

SMS Spoofing means generating fake requests for Short Message Services. In simple worlds, a mobile phone user is charged for a service he/she did not request such as ringtone downloads and more.

The MCMC plans to solve these scam by doing this.

In the Star article:

"It is not a question of one or two consumers being billed an extra few ringgit per month," said Fomca director Darshan Singh at a press conference today.(So, its NOT A QUESTION in cheating few dollars from the one or two consumers?When it will be a question?)

"There are 20 million cellphone users, 80% of which are postpaid service subscribers," he said. "If every one of those 16 million consumers is billed just RM3 a month, that comes up to RM48mil." (Based on the MCMC figures as picture below, more than 80% mobile phone subscribers are PREPAID users. As a Directors at FOMCA and knowing things about SMS Spoofing, facts like these should not go wrong. I do hope Steven Patrick as the writer of the article could get things right or please remove the statement.)

HEAR THIS MCMC!!!

Issuing bills does not solve SMS Spoofing!!!! Maxis was badly affected by SMS Spoofing and has taken action by implementing antispam and antispoofing solution that cost them close to 3.5 million.

Other telcos are yet to follow.

MCMC should take strict action on Content Provider that practice SMS spoofing and impose very high fine on Telcos for the failure to protect consumers due to their non-perfect system.

Repeating offense by a Content Provider should be banned from the business or must be taken to court.

Read The Star article here by Steven Patrick.

SMS Scam

Please beware of this particular SMS:

"TAHNIAH. Simcard Anda Meme-nangi hadiah Cek Tunai RM.20.000 dari peraduan CELCOM Sila hubungi Call Centre : 00628194177799 Terimakasih"

Thanks to Reader, Shafie for the pointer.

Announcement: DiGi

1.Service Upgrade for Prepaid & Postpaid system

Good isn't good enough for us. To enhance our services further, we're upgrading our prepaid and postpaid system today so you can enjoy the best of DiGi tomorrow.

The upgrading work is set to take place from 26th - 27th June 2007, between the hours of 11 pm and 9 am.
During this period, prepaid users will not be able to:
• Activate new lines and services
• Re-activate barred lines

Postpaid users will experience a delay in unbarring their lines.

Rest assured, you can still perform voice call and SMS functions. To ensure you stay connected during the night, kindly reload your prepaid account with enough credit or pay your postpaid bills before 11 pm daily.

Full service will resume on 27th June 2007 after 9 am.

We're excited that the new improved facilities will help us serve you better.
You have our heartfelt thanks for your continuous support.

2.SMS Scam

Please ignore this text message: "Tahniah, simcard anda memenangi hadiah cek tunai RM15,000 plus reload kredit RM250 dari peraduan DiGi. Sila hubungi 006281343842239, terima kasih"


Its a scam.

Cellphone scam artists nabbed

Two suspects operating in Sabah must have been shocked when Malacca police managed to track down their “hoax call” asking a woman to deposit money to them or risk having her assets sealed in court.

The two men, in their 20s, were arrested after they withdrew money from a bank in Kota Kinabalu.

Malacca Commercial Crimes Investigation Department Chief Supt Sum Chang Keong said with the arrests, police have solved the first “phone hoax” case in the country.

Last month, the victim, a woman in her 40s had received a call from a person claiming to be a representative from a court in Malacca.

“The person said that she had to appear in court immediately for a case but the woman was unable to attend, given the short period notice.

“Later, she was again contacted by the man, this time offering to help her but first she had to deposit RM10,000 into a bank account to ensure that her assets would not be sealed by the court,” said Supt Sum in a press conference on Monday.

The suspect even promised that the money would be returned once he managed to “settle the case” on her behalf.

Supt Sum said the victim then deposited the money but decided to lodge a police report when the suspect did not call up anymore.

He said the state police then contacted the Sabah police to tell them about the case and the two men were apprehended four days later.

Supt Sum advised the public to double check with the relevant authorities directly when they are given information over the phone, mail or in SMSes.-Source,TheStar

Macrokiosk offers Automated Mobile XChange (AMX)

Mobile messaging technology enabler Macrokiosk Bhd believes its Automated Mobile XChange (AMX) solution is the answer to service problems faced by telecommunications companies and their subscribers.

The product is to help telcos in the region fight unsolicited SMSes, launch their own external content provider programme, provide a content delivery mechanism, and handle number portability.

It was launched during CommunicAsia 2007 in Singapore recently.

"We believe telcos will find this a timely solution for resolving issues of overcharging, spamming, inability to opt-out, illicit downloads, unsolicited text messages, and billing errors," said Macrokiosk chief executive officer Kenny Goh.

"It will save time, manpower and effort for the telcos.

But more importantly, it will create a high confidence level for their mobile users." Goh said the homegrown solution, which took eight months to build, is a telco-grade product that has four modules — filtration, charging, content delivery and portability.

Read more.

Macrokiosk denies spoofing

Local mobile messaging gateway provider Macrokiosk Bhd has defended itself against accusations that it is involved in the recently publicised cases of SMS spoofing.

Macrokiosk is also listed three times on the MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission) list of non-compliant content providers, which can be viewed at http://www.mcmc.gov.my/consumer/non_compliance.asp.

As a result, the company has drawn disapproval from some mobile content industry players when it was recently listed in the Maxis Elite ECP (external content provider) Programme.

Read more.

Ignore SMS related to Tax status

If you happen to receive any sms that claims to be from Customs Department enquiring about your tax status, IGNORE IT!!!

Quotes from TheStar:

"Although we had announced that the system would be launched on April 1, its implementation was deferred on technical grounds," said Customs Sirim Integrated Electronic Common System (SPEKS)Senior Assistant Director II, Iskandar Jaafar.

"The consumers were charged when they responded to the queries via SMS but did not get a reply," he said.

He added that the victims should lodge police reports.

source

Think before even creating that SMS!!

Mobile phone users caught sending threats or obscene messages with pictures can be fined RM50,000 or jailed not more than one year, or both.

Tamil Nesan highlighted the caution from Deputy Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor.

The deputy minister, who was replying to a supplementary question from Senator Wan Ubaidah Omar in the Dewan Negara on Thursday, said it would be easy to identify senders with the compulsory registration of handphone users.

Shaziman said some irresponsible people were using SMS to cheat handphone users.

"The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission is seriously looking into the matter," he was quoted as saying.-TheStar

Take serious action on identity theft

SMS content providers are abusing this wonderful mode of communication. SMS spams are deluging mobile phone subscribers.

There are too many offers of ringtones, music and other services which are often not required and which consumers have to tolerate. To stop receiving these unwanted SMSes one has to call and inform the service provider, whereby the subscriber would be charged. Why must a subscriber be charged for declining a service he doesn’t require?

The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) has been receiving many complaints of SMS scams. One complainant received an SMS saying that he had been selected as the recipient of a RM20,000 prize. He had to dial a certain Indonesian phone number.

To claim his prize money he was asked to deposit RM2,000 in a certain bank account, as bank processing fee.

When this was reported to the telco, the telco claimed that they had acted on this and had already informed the police.

The question is, how did all these content providers get the handphone number of subscribers? This basically is identity theft. Is it not the responsibility of the telcos to protect the identity of subscribers?

CAP calls on the Malaysian Communication & Multimedia Commission to investigate these abuses by content providers and take serious action on identity theft of various kinds.

S.M. MOHAMED IDRIS,
President,
Consumers Association of Penang

Police bust Akademi Fantasia SMS scam syndicate

Police have busted a syndicate involved in an Akademi Fantasia SMS scam in Sabah.

The three key members of the syndicate were arrested in a series of operations by state police here that led to the detention of at least 11 other suspects in connection with the scam that used random SMS to dupe people into parting with their money.

Sabah acting Deputy Police Commissioner Sr Asst CommII Sidin Abdul Karim said the arrested included two "most wanted" men (both Indonesians) who were picked up from the Marina Court here by the end March.

Police also recovered 58 bank cards and RM36,661 cash from the suspects who had used locals to open up bank accounts, Sidin told reporters after attending the monthly police gathering at the Kepayan police headquarters here.

The suspects used the accounts so that their victims deposit money as part of a deal to collect a cheque that they purportedly won from an Akademi Fantasia show.

"Our investigations showed that the locals were paid about RM150 to RM200 for their accounts and bankcards to be used," he said, adding that about RM130,000 had been transferred by the syndicate to accounts in Indonesia.

He said the three suspects, aged between 30 and 40, were in the process of being charged in court under Section 420 of the Penal Code that carries a maximum jail term of one-year, whipping and a fine. The others were released on police bail.

Sidin said that there were a total of about 40 such cases reported in Sabah over a period of time reported in Sabah. -TheStar

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Around RM130,000 and RM36,661 transactions is mentioned on the articles above, I believe there are more transactions and more peoples involved out there as I believed most Malaysians that were cheated has not made a police report. This amount is raised from just 2-3 suspects(operating from Sabah only), imagine how much amount might be gained from other syndicate which is still free on the road now. I hope that the police could do better job in busting this syndicate like forming a monitoring unit that relates to Internet and Mobile Communication issues in this country.