By Haezreena Begum Abdul Hamid
Malaysia is experiencing a noticeable rise in SIM card scams, yet most discussions remain superficial, often reduced to public warnings such as “do not give your number to strangers.” In reality, this issue reflects a deeper criminological and legal problem linked to identity exploitation, economic vulnerability, and weak regulatory control.
A SIM card scam occurs when criminals use mobile phone SIM cards that are registered under another person’s identity to carry out fraud, phishing, impersonation, or online financial crimes. The key method is identity masking: the person legally registered on the SIM card is not the one using it. Criminals obtain these SIM cards in several ways, including purchasing or renting identities from students, cash-strapped individuals or migrant workers for small payments, using stolen or leaked personal data to register SIM cards without the victim’s knowledge, or acquiring bulk-registered SIM cards from dealers who intentionally bypass verification requirements.
The result is that when the SIM card is used in a scam, the person whose name appears in the registration database becomes the first suspect. Innocent people find themselves investigated, blacklisted, or labelled as accomplices. This phenomenon is known in criminology as secondary victimisation, where the system inadvertently harms the very individuals it should be protecting.
Under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, every SIM card must be registered using a valid identity, but this regulatory framework pushes accountability onto individuals instead of addressing the larger networks that profit from identity misuse and telecommunications loopholes. The enforcement approach tends to target the lowest-level participant, rather than the syndicates, data brokers, registration agents and online platforms that collectively enable the crime to occur.
This scam thrives not only because of technology, but because of social and economic vulnerability. People rent out their identity documents because they need the money. Others become victims because they do not understand how digital systems link SIM ownership to legal responsibility. Meanwhile, syndicates exploit anonymity and distance, knowing that police responses are often reactive and individualised.
If Malaysia is serious about addressing SIM card scams, the solution must shift from blaming “careless users” to dismantling the criminal infrastructure that profits from identity exploitation. This means stronger oversight of telecommunication agents, strict penalties for bulk-registration dealers, regulation of data trading networks, improved digital literacy education, and collaborative policing solutions that target syndicates rather than scapegoats.
Until enforcement is restructured to prioritise the dismantling of organised digital crime networks, SIM card scams will continue to flourish not because the public is careless, but because the system continues to place the burden of risk on those with the least power to defend themselves.
Dr. Haezreena Begum Abdul Hamid is a Criminologist and Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Universiti Malaya and may be reached at haezreena@um.edu.my