The Situation

If you are a homeowner in Malaysia, you would have probably experienced yelling over the phone or blocking hundreds of calls, SMSes, Telegrams, and Whatsapp texts from property agents knowing your current or past place of residence. This is a breach of PDPA. Familiar daily harassment would look/sound something like this:

"Hi, Mr/Ms, I’m Soung here from a property management company. Do you have any property for rent at XX Residensi?"

"Hi Mr/Ms, I'm Jordan from IPG Realty, may i know you unit at XX Subang still available for rent? i have tenant looking this condo can i introduce to you ?"

"Dear xx owner, ready tenant looking for an unit to rent,reply if your unit available for rent.welcome to list for sale too.thx Christine"

How did our personal data get leaked?

Irresponsible property developers who do not have tight security on their buyer's personal data. Ex-property agents from top-tier agencies have confessed to me on two separate occasions that these agencies purchase a list of numbers from an irresponsible staff in the property development office for RM10-20k. Some even go as low as RM30.

Why don't you just block or ignore it?

Blocking one number will only reward us with 3 new numbers harassing us the following day. It's no use. People like me have been harassed from 2017 til the present. The intensity of calls and texts is increasing by the month now. We're getting disturbed during meetings, important dinners, and even funerals for this. Our sanity is ON THE LINE.

It says here from Donovan and Ho's site that-

"Some countries have taken specific steps to curb such practices by establishing a “Do Not Call (DNC)” registry that prohibits organizations from sending marketing messages (in the form of voice calls, text or fax messages) to telephone numbers registered with the DNC Registry. While Malaysia’s PDPA does not have express provisions requiring a DNC registry, one should not rule out the possibility of this being introduced in the near future.

The Malaysian PDPA gives consumers the right to request in writing (including SMS reply) for the direct marketer or direct seller to stop or even not begin processing their personal data. Failure to cease using personal data for direct marketing purposes after a data subject has objected could cost the offender a fine of up to RM200,000 and/or imprisonment of up to two years."

Some of these property agents exploited this loophole by not mentioning their company name first, and or using multiple phone numbers to disguise themselves. It's also impossible to keep track of which agency is calling you more than once when you usually block the earlier numbers.

Most homeowners like myself are also unaware of this method of reporting. We have lost all hope and the law, blocking, and caller ID apps, do not protect us.

This petition is to alert the proper parties to STOP the harassment. Even banks and fintech are not allowed to call customers. 

It's like getting subscribed to a newsletter we can never unsubscribe to and it will haunt you for a decade or more. 

PDPA, contact me to investigate these unethical property agencies and developers. I know where you can start.