BE CAREFUL WHEN SHARING PERSONAL INFO, CYBERSECURITY MALAYSIA ADVISES ONLINE SHOPPERS

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- CyberSecurity Malaysia Thursday has advised online shoppers to be careful when sharing personal information online as cyber security attacks are on the rise. Chief Executive Officer Prof Husin Jazri said between January and August, a total of 13,173 cyber crimes such as frauds, scams and intrusion attempts into internet users have been reported to CyberSecurity Malaysia. "Compared with the same period last year, we only received 6,206 incidents, which means the crime has increased by 112 per cent this year," he told a joint media briefing on Online and Mobile Shopping Safety Insights with PayPal. Husin said fraud cases were the main contributor to cyber crimes which accounted for about 35 per cent or 4,574 cases, while online-purchasing fraud was 12 per cent or 565 incidents from January to October. "Frauds committed online are now as common as fraud committed on the streets and with the Internet, it is more challenging to track the perpetrators. "Therefore, the chances of getting your money back is very low, he said. To raise awareness among consumers, especially online shoppers, CyberSecurity Malaysia has joined forces with Paypal to provide a timely reminder for Malaysian shoppers. As part of the campaign, they will run a joint awareness campaign to share top online safety tips across radio, print and online media. PayPal managing director (South East Asia and India) Elias Ghanem said this collaboration will promote December as the safe online shopping month as it was a peak season for Malaysians to shop online who take advantage of the wide range of discounts. "To stay safe during the busiest online shopping period of the year, we urge them to adopt a "shop without sharing practice" and to look for consumer protections, especially when buying from overseas websites," he said. Ghanem said PayPal also offered a buyer protection policy which protected online shoppers if they did not receive an eligible item they have purchased from websites that accepted PayPal or if they received an eligible item which was significantly different than stated on the website. PayPal is a US-based e-commerce business, a provider for faster and safer way to pay and get paid online. -- BERNAMA