According to the "New Straits Times", Malaysian police have warned that online gambling syndicates within the country are increasingly relying on foreigners to register SIM cards to evade law enforcement and maintain anonymity in their illegal online activities.
Tan Sri Razarudin Husain, the Director-General of Royal Malaysia Police, pointed out that these syndicates pay foreigners to purchase their personal information for bulk registration of SIM cards. These cards are then used to set up gambling websites, manage promotional accounts, and place advertisements on various social media platforms.
The police said that this practice significantly increases the difficulty of investigations. Since the registrants of these cards have no connection to the actual masterminds, once a SIM card is tracked or blocked, the criminal syndicates quickly switch to a new card and continue their operations.
It is reported that these gambling groups usually operate in high-security luxury apartments, with each member often possessing multiple SIM cards and frequently changing their office locations to evade law enforcement. They also actively recruit high-impact "internet celebrities" on social media, leveraging their fan bases to funnel traffic to the gambling platforms.
What is more concerning is that as gambling operations fully digitize and financial transactions no longer require physical contact, these types of cybercrimes continue to expand despite regulatory pressures. Razarudin emphasized that although the police have tried to collaborate with telecommunications companies to block suspicious numbers, the effectiveness is limited.
The police call for strengthened cooperation between government departments and within the industry; otherwise, relying solely on law enforcement will be insufficient to effectively curb this continuously evolving underground network.
