KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has received only 80 complaints on recycled mobile phone numbers since 2021, said Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil.
This is equivalent to 0.0016 per cent of the overall mobile service users in the country, surpassing 49.4 million users as of the second quarter of this year.
“Usage of recycled numbers is an existing policy under the Numbering and Electronic Addressing Plan (NEAP) 2023 to ensure each number allocated is reused to avoid wastage.
“Despite the minuscule complaints, the ministry via MCMC is improving the existing procedures from time to time to ensure the comfort of consumers,” he said during Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat today.
Fahmi was responding to Ampang MP Rodziah Ismail’s query on the possibility of setting a policy to cancel recycled numbers to ensure consumers’ security.
He said to reduce the risk of calls to old numbers’ users, these inactive numbers will enter a quarantine or cooling off period for at least six months before they can be reused again.
The practice of using all old phone numbers and quarantine period is also used in other countries like the United States (45 days), Australia (six months), and Singapore (90 days).
“Although measures to reduce problems and risks have been taken, MCMC cannot prevent the bank or any service from storing its customers’ personal data for a long period of time.
“Therefore, in dealing with this matter, new users should also be careful to block phone numbers by using the existing functions found in mobile phones,” Fahmi said.
If there are calls that threaten the safety of new users or face fraudulent crimes, users are advised to make a police report and report it to the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) helpline at 997.
Meanwhile, responding to Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP Roslan Hashim’s supplementary question on whether the government plans to extend NSRC operations to 24 hours to facilitate victims’ reports, he said the ministry will examine all ways to improve public access to channel complaints about problems faced them.
“Currently, the NSRC is still operating from 8am until 8pm, but on October 13, we received an additional injection of funds, so we will work to improve the service,” Fahmi said.
— Bernama
