MyCERT: Online fraud is now rife

PETALING JAYA: Cases of online fraud is becoming rampant, making up nearly 70% of complaints reported to the Malaysia Computer Emer­gency Response Team (MyCERT) so far this year.

Of the 3,743 complaints about computer security incidents re­ceived by the government agency from January to May, 2,563 (68.47%) were related to online fraud cases ranging from the Macau Scam to illegal investments.

The remaining were complaints about other security issues such as cyber harassment, spam and denial of service attacks.

MyCERT, one of the departments under CyberSecurity Malaysia, serves as the point of reference for the country’s Internet community to deal with security incidents.

Its figures show that the number of fraud complaints spiked from 2,212 in 2010 to 5,123 last year. CyberSecurity Malaysia is an agency under the Communications and Multimedia Ministry. 

The agency defines online fraud as any type of scheme that uses one or more online services to present fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims or conduct fraudulent transactions.

Online fraud is also used to transmit the proceeds of fraud to financial institutions or to others connected with the scheme.

Internet fraud, said MyCERT, could take place on computer programmes such as chat rooms, e-mail, message boards or websites.

Of the 5,123 fraud complaints received last year by MyCERT, the bulk (4,513) were related to phishing, which is a form of online fraud in which an attacker masquerades as a reputable entity or person in email or other communication channels.

The attacker uses phishing emails to induce his victim to reveal personal information such as passwords and credit card details.

The second-biggest category of fraud complaints last year was related to online scams, with 275 reports lodged.

In third place were complaints about fraud purchases followed by impersonation, lottery scams, fraud websites, job scams, unauthorised transactions, illegal investments and Nigerian scams.

“By looking at the current trend and scenario, it is likely that online fraud incidents will continue to grow in the coming year and remain as one of the most reported incidents in our constituency,” MyCERT said in a report on cybersecurity threat trends in Malaysia.

Online security incidents can be reported to MyCERT via email at [e-mail] or through its website https://www.mycert.org.my.