PDRM Arrests 27 Social Media Influencers for Promoting Online Gambling

Gambling is something that’s very addicting and can cause a lot of harm to a person and the people around them.

Just recently, PDRM has arrested 27 social media influencers for promoting online gambling on their social media accounts.

Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain, director of the Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department has said that out of 27 of them, 23 are women while the rest are men. Their age ranged from 21 to 35 and they were arrested in different states: Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Perlis, Kedah and Penang.

According to BERNAMA, these arrests were made following intelligence gathered in cooperation with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) over a period of 2 months.

“Preliminary investigations found that the influencers have been actively promoting online gambling to their followers on social media since last year and received payments of RM1,500 to RM8,000 a month for one platform according to the number of followers by gambling syndicates.”

He added that the influencers were usually active on 2 social media platforms, and most of those arrested had hidden their illicit activities by selling products such as cosmetics on the platforms.

“30 mobile phones were seized from the suspects, who will be remanded and investigated under Section 4(1)(g) of the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953 and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998,” he said.

It is easy for people to fall into these traps where online gambling is at the centre of it. Hence, everyone should keep an eye out for the apps that their loved ones download and use.

Also read: 10K Students Skipped SPM Allegedly Due to Influencers Saying They Can Become Rich Without Education