KUALA LUMPUR: A staggering 100.29 per cent surge in scam calls was detected among Malaysian users in 2023, according to Whoscall.
Whoscall, the digital anti-fraud app under the TrustTech service provider Gogolook, detected over 1.6 million scam calls in 2023 compared to 2022, which recorded 812,428 scam calls.
Based on Whoscall's 2023 annual report, RM65 million losses were suffered by victims of phone scams in just the first two months this year, placing Malaysia in second place out of seven Asian countries for an increase in scam calls.
Gogolook Malaysia country marketing lead, Man Yong, said although Whoscall managed to help users by identifying and adding the 'scam' tagging to 1.6 million calls, 10.35 per cent of them still chose to pick up the tagged scam calls, which is equivalent to 168,946 users.
"This is a concern, and we would like to remind our users not to entertain any calls tagged as 'scam' and to immediately block the number.
"Taking these early preventive steps can save you from becoming a victim of scams," he said.
Meanwhile, PDRM Anti-Scam ambassador ASP Rahmat Fitri Abdullah said other than phone scams, another popular online scam is through links or URLs shared in messaging apps and he urges Malaysians to be alert before clicking any links.
"With generative AI now used to create fake content, it is becoming hard to differentiate the authenticity of information shared.
"Malaysia is now seeing emerging trends in AI-based scams by manipulating news where scammers take real news footage and alter the audio clip to achieve a certain goal such as producing positive news on an investment opportunity to win the victims' trust which has seen more and more Malaysians falling for this trick," he said.
In response to these threats, Whoscall aims to detect and mitigate risks associated with fraudulent links and compromised personal information by introducing innovative features such as URL scanning and ID security.