MCMC terminates 19,765 phone lines for online gambling spam SMS

Apart from taking action against online videos that promote online gambling, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has also blocked access to thousands of online casino platforms as well as phone subscriptions that have been misused to promote gambling activities.

Until March 2021, a total of 2,195 online gambling websites have been blocked based on information and reports made by the public and the Royal Malaysia Police. All forms of online gambling and promotion of online gambling activities fall under the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953.

To curb misuse of telco services, a total of 19,765 phone subscriptions have been terminated as of March 2021 for sending spam SMS to promote these gambling platforms. The MCMC said that they are also conducting customer verification audit to ensure that active mobile prepaid subscriptions are not misused by irresponsible parties for criminal activities such as fraud and promotion of online casinos.

In addition, the MCMC has also reached out to international social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to take down inappropriate content according to their terms of use and community guidelines. The commission also said they are running customer advocacy programmes to create awareness so that the youths will not fall into the trap of illegal gambling.

Internet users are also urged to report any content that promotes online gambling and not to share it on their social media platform. The MCMC said any form of sharing would further promote the illegal online platform which is detrimental to the Malaysian society.

[ IMAGE SOURCE ]

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