SMS fraud: Ex-telco customer service head remanded for five days

PUTRAJAYA: A former telecommunication company customer service head has been remanded for five days starting today to facilitate investigation into a corruption case involving a short messaging system (SMS) fraud syndicate.

So far, 17 individuals including two with ‘Datuk’ title have been remanded since Nov 10 after being suspected to be involved in the case.

The remand order until Nov 22 was issued by Magistrate Siti Roslizawati Mohd Zanin here after allowing the application of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today.

According to an MACC source, the 46-year-old woman was arrested at MACC headquarters here at about 11 pm last night after giving her statement.

The remanded individuals were believed to have offered and accepted bribes to obtain personal information of pre-paid customers of the company.

The telephone numbers obtained were allegedly used by a content provider fraud syndicate to charge subscription via SMS without the knowledge and agreement of customers, the source said.

The case is being investigated under Section 16 of the MACC Act 2009.

-- BERNAMA