Sharing Scam Messages Without Thinking: Malaysia’s Favourite National Sport
Sharing Scam Messages Without Thinking: Malaysia’s Favourite National Sport Malaysia has many national talents. We produce world-class badminton players, legendary food, and traffic jams that could qualify as cultural heritage. But there is one activity Malaysians seem to perform with frightening efficiency: sharing scam messages without thinking. Yes, the great national pastime of forwarding suspicious messages on WhatsApp faster than the speed of common sense. You know the type of message. It starts with dramatic words like “URGENT!!!”, followed by a story that sounds like it was written by someone who barely passed primary school English. “Please share to all your contacts immediately. New scam! Police warning! Bank alert! Very dangerous!” And within minutes, thousands of Malaysians are forwarding it like they’ve just been recruited into some secret emergency response team. Nobody checks if the information is real. Nobody asks where it came from. Nobody spends the extra ...