Malaysia Shuts Down over 12k Mobile Phone Numbers Linked to Online Gambling Promos

Authorities in Malaysia are not letting up in their war against illegal gambling.

This year, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) started terminating mobile phone numbers linked to text messages promoting gambling activities in the country. On Wednesday, the Bernama news agency reported that the commission has canceled a total of 12,449 phone numbers in September—up from the over 8,000 phone numbers terminated in April. The numbers were reportedly used to promote illegal gambling operations via short messaging services (SMS).

MCMC Minister Salleh Said Keruak said the commission has received a total of 1,161 online gambling promotions-related complaints from the public from 2015 until September, which resulted in the termination of some mobile phone numbers. The commission operated under Section 263(2) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which allows services providers to terminate phone numbers that have found to be involved in sending out gambling-related SMSes.

The SMSes, according to the minister, did not target specific users. Instead, they were sent out as spam messages to random phone numbers.