KUALA TERENGGANU – “Public interest must be taken into account as the accused’s irresponsible actions have caused the spread of fake news which led to confusion.”
Sessions Court’s Judge Nooriah Osman said this before meting out punishment to Ng Yean Ping, 33, who was charged with 115 counts of unauthorised registration and modification of information of mobile phone numbers using the identity of foreign nationals.
The accused was fined RM115,000 in default of 115 months in jail, after he pleaded guilty to the charges, today.
Ng was accused of accessing Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd’s Multi Channel Portal (MCP) and made unauthorised modification of the contents of the MCP system by inserting information of 32 foreigners.
He was alleged to have committed the offences at K Five Mobile 1127 A&B, Jalan Bukit Kecil, here between April 18 and June 10, 2016, and was charged under Section 5(1) Computer Crimes Act 1997, which provides a maximum fine of RM100,000 or seven years’ jail, or both, upon conviction.
During the proceeding, deputy public prosecutor Nur Nazhzilah Mohammad Hashim said the accused’s action had tarnished the reputation of the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) as the agency was linked to a fake news which was making its rounds using one of the mobile phone numbers.
According to the facts of the case, the crime was detected following a report lodged by Bernama after the agency was linked to the dissemination of the fake news titled Sultan Mizan Kembalikan Darjah Kebesaran Kepada MB Terengganu dated June 1, 2016.
Further investigations found that the fake news was sent from a mobile number 010 3873508 registered under the name of a foreigner, whose particulars could not be found in the Immigration Department’s record.
However, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) managed to track the accused’s activities and found 115 mobile phone numbers registered with false information without the knowledge of the telecommunication company.
Lawyer Che Amir Che Musa, who representing the accused, said that his client no longer own the mobile phone shop after he was blacklisted by Digi following the discovery of his illegal activities four years ago.
— BERNAMA
