PUTRAJAYA: Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the ministry will hold a meeting with social media messaging company, WhatsApp over cybersecurity issues of account 'takeovers' next week.
He said there was a trend where new tactics are emerging within the industry where takeovers of accounts that were previously seen in other messaging applications are spreading to WhatsApp.
"I've noticed a trend that's a bit worrisome because previously, takeovers of accounts were seen in applications like Telegram, but now it's spreading to WhatsApp.
"Personally, I've received complaints from several individuals about how their WhatsApp accounts have been compromised.
"We'll arrange a meeting next week with representatives from Meta who are managing WhatsApp to understand the current security aspects that might be insufficient and exploited by criminals."
Fahmi advised the public to heed the warning by CyberSecurity Malaysia by being vigilant about it, and to avoid clicking any links on social media messaging applications.
"This is especially important within WhatsApp because we know WhatsApp has a vast reach. It extends to many chat groups. We have neighbourhood groups, mosque groups, and the likes.
"So, please be cautious. If you see a suspicious link, my advice right now is don't click it," he told reporters after attending the closing of the Federal Territory-level National Anti-Scam Roadshow 2023 here.
Also in attendance were Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, CyberSecurity Malaysia board of directors chairman General (Rtd) Tan Sri Datuk Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin and CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Dr Amirudin Abdul Wahab.
Earlier today, CyberSecurity Malaysia issued a warning regarding scammers exploiting the WhatsApp application for impersonation activities and deceiving victims into transferring money.
In a post on Facebook, CyberSecurity said fraudulent activities were using the application, with the perpetrator posing as someone known to the victim before sending a link and asking the victim to click on it.
The victim will subsequently lose access to their WhatsApp account once they click on the link.
It also said scammers would claim the victim is in an emergency and neededfinancial aid or a loan to help them out of the crisis and promise to make repayment.
In this situation, the victim's contacts will be misled and believe their friend sent the message and end up losing money.
