With the increase in unidentified calls that lead to telemarketers and scams, it’s best to install a reliable call-blocking app.
WHEN you receive a phone call or a text message from an unknown person, it would undoubtedly spark a worry – as you’ll be wondering how that person on the other end of the line managed to get your number to start with.
Between 2019 and 2021, a total of 51,631 cases were recorded resulting in losses amounting to RM1.6bil, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Jonathan Yasin told the Dewan Rakyat on March 14.
Even the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission declared, in a written reply at the Dewan Rakyat on March 3, that it blocked some 1.6 billion suspicious calls from reaching consumers between 2018 and 2021, thanks to the help of various parties.
These cases are, however, mostly glossed over as statistics by casual readers. But peel away the digits and you get sobering, worrying scenarios confirming that they, too can become victims.
The most persistent of these scam calls originate from one syndicate that bears no preamble; the Macau Scam. How it started is as much an urban legend as well as when it began.
But what is true is that their modus operandi involves posing as government and enforcement officers, then attempting to scare their victims into revealing their bank accounts.
And somehow, even with the press coverage of their increasing notoriety throughout the region especially during the pandemic lockdown, many Malaysians still get duped.
As recently as March 26, a uni scholar was conned out of RM11,200, then a day later a nurse lost RM50,000 of her savings.
Even a 53-year-old bank manager was not spared and lost RM605,000 in a Macau Scam in January this year.
All these cases, victims were contacted via a random phone number, which if traced will not show that it belongs to the agencies they claim to be.
In fact, the Inspector-General of Police stated that government and enforcement officers do not conduct investigations via phone calls, opting for scheduled meetings or interviewing at the respective offices.
But there are phone apps that can screen all calls and messages instantly, alerting users beforehand if the caller isn’t who they claim to be.
This gives would-be victims a moment to pause and reflect, and they can then choose to accept to call or reject it outright.
Using a call blocking app like Whoscall protects a community of users with a bank of over 1.6 billion numbers available even offline, as well as the largest database in East Asia.
It respects its users’ privacy with this database, as building trust is a main focus.
Whoscall has been downloaded more than 65 million times and received the 2013 Innovation Award by Google Play Taiwan, App Store’s Best Apps 2015, Google Play’s Best Apps of the Year for 2015 and 2016, and Taiwan's Fourth Presidential Innovation Award 2020.
Whoscall has also teamed up with the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) for them to better crack down on scammers, and so far the app has helped over over 800,000 Malaysians by identifying unknown calls in real time.
It then filters out spam calls using its sophisticated and powerful AI system via its massive database. So far Whoscall has successfully blocked over seven billion spam calls and text messages.
To a lesser degree, yet still worrying, it also protects your privacy from other unwanted calls and messages from telemarketers, pesky advertising text messages and loan sharks.
Whoscall can be downloaded at https://whoscall.onelink.me/yz7G/download or via Google Playstore and Apple App Store.
