M'sia ranks 'No 1' for phone numbers leaked and sold to scammers
SHAH ALAM - Malaysia ranks first in the percentage of cell phone numbers being leaked or or sold to scammers, according to the Gogolook 2022 Annual Fraud Report.
The report states that more than 73 percent of cell phone numbers have been leaked, which is equivalent to more than 21 million people
In a joined statement, the report also revealed that top private information leaks were login passwords and names followed by address, country, date of birth and email leaks.
The report further stated that the leaked data may lead to stolen online banking details or social network accounts.
When scammers get access to names, phone numbers, and even payment and shopping records, they can easily initiate phone and message attacks.
If names and addresses are leaked, people may soon receive 'unsolicited packages with payment requests on arrival'. Private information leaks are often the first step which leads to fraud or scam cases.
Meanwhile, Whoscall, which is powered by Gogolook also identified over 405.4 million scam calls and messages that took place globally in 2022.
Results showed that scammers prioritise text messages for high penetration rates due to its low costs feature which contributed to 76 percent of messages being used as the ’first contact’ in fraud cases.
The Gogolook Annual Fraud Report looked into private information leakage and upstream operations in the scam industry chain across countries like Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Korea, and Malaysia.
The report was published in collaboration with the Constella Intelligence, an international digital risk protection service provider in an effort to enhance public anti-fraud literacy.
