KUALA LUMPUR: “Hello!”
That was the only response offered by a man who answered a phone call placed by a reporter, who was aiming to trace the flurry of spam calls received by several political leaders, including candidates for the 14th General Election.
However, as soon as the reporter began asking why the calls were made, the person who answered terminated the call.
On Tuesday night, political leaders from both the government and the opposition were subjected to a barrage of phone calls with numbers from the United States and the United Kingdom. This was believed to have been an attempt to disrupt communications, especially involving security personnel during GE14.
Among the numbers registered were +150768166481, +125427868230, +150873021530, +104233214142,+16182437257 and +115457553331 from the United States, as well as +447403926341 from the UK.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in a statement on Wednesday, had advised those who receive such calls not to pick up.
The calls, MCMC believed, was a form of cyber attack meant to disrupt communication lines. It is understood that those who answer the calls would not only suffer from a disruption in their communications, but would also saddled with an astronomical phone bill.