Fraudsters Are Now Duping Victims Through Instant Messaging Apps, Says MCMC

Are you one of those people who ignore ‘update’ notifications sent on your smartphone?

Then you are the perfect target for hackers and fraudsters.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said mobile phone users must ensure that all applications installed on their devices are updated to avoid being a target of scammers.

MCMC said this following a complaint from a ‘high profile’ person that their Telegram account had been hacked.

In a statement quoted by Astro Awani, the commission revealed that the fraudster’s or hacker's modus operandi is to impersonate the phone owner and tries to influence victims to download and install instant messaging applications such as Telegram and Viber on their phones.

The victims are then asked to share a verification code sent to their phones, which allows the fraudster to take over the account and gain access to sensitive personal information.

MCMC said that this would allow the suspect to use the info to impersonate and dupe others with a fake message that can negatively impact the owner of the phone number, including associating their identity to criminal activities.

As such, MCMC urged victims of such fraud to lodge a police report for further action.

And also, do not click on suspicious links sent by suspicious people. That's definitely a recipe for disaster.