KUCHING: Bandar Kuching Member of Parliament, Dr. Kelvin Yii has advised parents and teachers to be aware of increasing scams on Facebook affecting children and students even in Kuching.
The scams involve hackers who reportedly threaten young underage students to send nude and compromising photos of themselves on the internet.
Yii said he had received a few complaints from parents who said their children’s Facebook accounts were hacked and used to send personal messages through Facebook Messenger to their friends asking for certain private information, including personal photos of themselves.
According to the Bandar Kuching Member of Parliament, the hackers will first send private messages on Facebook through the account of friends or familiar persons which they have hacked earlier, asking the victims to click on a link with an excuse to help them verify something.
Once the victims have clicked on the link, the hackers will then gain full control of the particular Facebook accounts and use them to trick others on the victims’ lists of friends.
“We have received multiple complaints since last year of such scams.
“Many have fallen prey to such scams because they thought the persons asking were really their friends or relatives based on the Facebook accounts that contacted them.
“However, the scams have escalated, and we now receive complaints that such hackers are even threatening secondary schoolchildren now to send nude videos or photos of themselves in compromising positions.
“Sadly, to say we were informed that some have fallen prey to such scams and have uploaded such photos to the hackers.
“When we receive such news, we urge parents to immediately launch police reports and we also accompany them to lodge reports at the Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
“We view this very seriously as it involves blackmail and worst, child pornography as underaged children are threatened to send these compromising photos,” he said.
Yii urged the police and MCMC to view the matter urgently and take immediate actions to protect children and students from such cyber-attacks and cyber scams.
“Imagine the trauma our students,children and their parents will have to go through if these photos are leaked to the public.
“I also encourage all parents and teachers to be aware of such happenings and to protect their children, especially with their interactions online.
“While we see the benefit of the internet and other social media applications, we must also exercise caution and try not to reveal too much of our personal information on the internet, even on Facebook.
“ I also encourage victims of such scams to come forward and we will do our best to assist them while protecting their identities and confidentiality.
“We must work together in order to protect our children from such heinous crimes against them,” he added.
