Malaysia lost RM2m to phishing last year, says MCMC

By Zurairi AR

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Dato' Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi (centre) holds a press conference at Malaysian Communications
and multimedia Commission Headquarters. Picture by Saw Siow FengCYBERJAYA, July 1
A total of RM1.9 million was lost to phishing cases last year, but the Malaysian
Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) stressed today that the numbers are
decreasing this year due to a concerted effort together with the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM)
and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

Phishing is a jargon for the attempts to get an Internet user's information such as login
username, password, and credit card details by fraudsters disguised as a trusted website, for
example, the user's bank's website.

There are more people now banking online, there are more people now transacting online, but
there's now a reduction in phishing cases. So that's a good sign, MCMC chairman Datuk
Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi told reporters here.

MCMC reported today that there have been 652 resolved phishing cases between January to
May this year, a 22 per cent reduction year-on-year from 835 cases in the corresponding period
last year.

Out of the total cases in 2012, 332 of them involved financial losses amounting to
RM1,959,932.

This was a marked decrease of 62 per cent from 2011, when 872 cases involved financial losses
with a total of RM3,294,740.

The earliest data provided by MCMC showed that in 2009, there were only 75 cases involving
money, with losses of RM215,131.

Sharil attributed most phishing cases to human carelessness, comparing careless users to those
who build expensive gates for their houses but leave the keys to the gates outside.

Login usernames and passwords are yours to keep secretly ... There were many cases where the
usernames and passwords were shared with their secretaries, Sharil related.

In 2012, 2,611 websites have been identified and taken down by the MCMC, while 622 take
down instructions have been issued between January and May this year.

The websites instructed to be taken down in 2012 also included 103 considered obscene, 15 for
contravening syarie laws, and 10 for contravening the Communications and Multimedia Act
1998.

Between January and May this year, 117 sites were instructed to be taken down for being
obscene, and five for contravening syarie laws.