{"id":777007239,"date":"2023-07-13T06:55:41","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T09:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777007239"},"modified":"2026-04-22T20:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T23:06:08","slug":"malaysia-8-arrested-over-alleged-online-gambling-call-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/malaysia-8-arrested-over-alleged-online-gambling-call-centre","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia: 8 arrested over alleged online gambling call centre"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The alleged online gambling call centre was being run in Stutong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Malaysia.-\u00a0Police have arrested eight people, including two foreign nationals, for involvement in an alleged online gambling call centre in Stutong.\u00a0The suspects are suspected of having been engaged in promoting online gambling websites to customers through phone calls, mobile applications and social media platforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police seized equipment, including computers, smartphones and internet modems. Kuching police chief ACP\u00a0Ahsmon Bajah<\/strong>, said initial investigations revealed the syndicate had been running the call centre for several months, making approximately RM450,000 in illicit gains. Those arrested are being held in custody until July 26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Borneo Post,\u00a0the case is being investigated under Section 4(1)(g) of the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953, which deals with offences related to gambling, and Section 6(1)(c) and Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959\/63, pertaining to immigration-related offences.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, the communications and digital ministry said that it was going to work<\/a> with Meta Platforms Inc, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the police to address the rising instances of online fraud and illegal gambling as well as issues related to religion, royalty and race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minister Fahmi Fadzil<\/strong> said losses suffered by Malaysians via Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) in the first five months of 2023 had reached almost RM330m, 25 per cent more than in all of 2022. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The alleged online gambling call centre was being run in Stutong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":19386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Malaysian police have dismantled an illegal online gambling call centre in Stutong, arresting eight individuals and seizing equipment, with the syndicate reportedly generating RM450,000 in illicit gains. This enforcement action aligns with broader governmental efforts, including collaboration with Meta Platforms Inc. and MCMC, to combat rising online fraud and illegal gambling, which caused RM330 million in losses to Malaysians in the first five months of 2023.","focusai_entities":"Meta Platforms Inc, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Ahsmon Bajah, Fahmi Fadzil, Borneo Post","focusai_location":"Malaysia, Stutong, Kuching","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.85), affiliate_publisher (0.75), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.85), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Impact on Meta","query":"What specific measures will Meta Platforms Inc. implement in collaboration with Malaysian authorities to curb illegal gambling promotion and online fraud, and what are the potential implications for their platform's advertising policies and content moderation globally?"},{"label":"Illicit Market Size","query":"Given the RM450,000 illicit gains from a single call centre and RM330 million in broader online fraud losses, what is the estimated total market size of illegal online gambling in Malaysia, and how does this impact the potential for a regulated market?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[23911],"class_list":["post-777007239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777007239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777007239"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777007239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777007247,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777007239\/revisions\/777007247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777007239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777007239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777007239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}