Spam Calls Increasing in Malaysia!

Unwanted spam calls are on the rise around the globe, no doubt, and the situation is skyrocketing in Malaysia. In fact, Malaysia is being more affected than its neighboring countries. According to our report, the average Truecaller user in Malaysia receives more than 7 spam calls each month, compared to 4 spam calls monthly in neighboring countries of Singapore and Thailand, and 2 per month in Vietnam. However, Malaysian residents will be glad to know that so far, Truecaller has helped its users identify over 4.3 million spam calls just this year alone.

Globally, there are a number of common categories that tie all spam calls together, with some of the most common being unsolicited finance and insurance product offerings along with telemarketin­g and debt collection calls. Other unwanted calls include operator nuisance and scam calls.

A closer look at spam calls in Malaysia

One major driver of spam calls in Malaysia are financial services that account for 67% of spam calls. Typically, these are banking products offers or cold calls from credit card companies. Another major spam call problem that Malaysians have to deal with is telemarketin­g calls that make up 13% of total spam calls reported. Telemarketin­g calls can further be broken down into promotional calls from companies, surveys being done by analytics firms on behalf of their clients, or new client outreach for services and subscription­s.

Rounding off the spam call list in Malaysia are insurance calls at 9% and operator calls at 4%. Debt collection, nuisance and scam calls make up 6% of spam calls.

Current Phone Scams

According to sources, one of the biggest phone scams is the Macau Scam, where victims say that they received a call from a man claiming to be a police officer on duty at Taman Sri Muda Police Station. He described that the victim has several police cases around them, and only money can settle it.

Two Ways to Counter spammers

Download the Truecaller app for free! Truecaller makes it simple for everyone to look at their Caller ID and know who’s calling, even if the number is not stored in their phonebook. Truecaller also enables users to block calls as well as SMS and report spam callers and messages, allowing the larger community of users to avoid the spammers, too. Currently, more than 250 million people around the world are enjoying the benefits of using Truecaller. So, even unidentified foreign numbers can be vetted with Truecaller, currently available for Android and iOS.

In Malaysia, the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) enables consumers to officially write to any company using their contact details for marketing and ask for the company to stop marketing to them. Companies that do not comply with the written notice from the consumer can be fined up to RM200,000 or jailed for up to two years, or both.

However, it can be tedious for consumers to identify every company marketing to them and to send a written notice, and to later lodge an official complaint to the authorities if the marketer does not comply.