"Goodbye" Spam Robocalls in Malaysia
Date: 11 October 2026
Prepared for: General Public Awareness
1. Executive Summary
A growing number of Malaysians have reported receiving phone calls from unknown numbers where, upon answering, an automated machine voice simply says "goodbye" (or "bye, thank you") and immediately hangs up. This phenomenon is not unique to Malaysia — identical reports have surfaced in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and across Southeast Asia. This report investigates the nature, causes, risks, and recommended responses to these calls, with a specific focus on the Malaysian context.
2. What Is Happening?
The typical experience is as follows:
- A call arrives from an unknown local mobile number, a spoofed local number, or an international number.
- The recipient answers. There is a brief silence (2–5 seconds).
- An automated/robotic voice says a single word or short phrase — most commonly "goodbye" — and the call disconnects.
Malaysian users on platforms such as the r/Bolehland subreddit, the Developer Kaki Facebook group, and the Penang Community Facebook page have all reported identical experiences, with some noting follow-up calls from different numbers on the same day and over subsequent days.
3. Two Primary Explanations
Research and expert analysis point to two distinct causes, which may overlap:
3.1 Predictive Dialer / Telemarketing Overflow (The "Harmless" Explanation)
Predictive dialers are automated calling systems used by telemarketing firms, debt collectors, and survey companies. They work by:
- Dialling thousands of numbers simultaneously using algorithms that predict when agents will become free.
- When a call is answered, the system attempts to connect it to a live agent.
- If more people answer than there are available agents, the system has no one to route the call to. In many configurations, it plays a pre-recorded "goodbye" message and disconnects.
This is a well-documented global phenomenon. The US-based radio station WPDH reported in April 2026 that New Yorkers were receiving identical "goodbye" calls, with experts confirming the predictive-dialer explanation. Similar reports date back years on forums such as Survive France (2019) and r/AskUK (2023).
Key point: In this scenario, the call is not inherently malicious — it is a by-product of poorly configured or over-aggressive telemarketing infrastructure. However, it still confirms that your number is active, which can lead to more calls.
3.2 AI-Powered Silent Call / Voice-Cloning Scam (The "Dangerous" Explanation)
In December 2025, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) issued an urgent public warning about a new scam tactic: AI-powered silent calls designed to record and clone victims' voices.
The modus operandi, as reported by The Star (4 December 2025) and Asia News Network:
- Scammers call the target. When the target answers, the line is deliberately silent.
- If the target speaks — even just saying "hello" or "who is this?" — their voice is recorded.
- The recorded voice sample is fed into AI voice-cloning software, which can generate realistic speech in the victim's voice.
- The cloned voice is then used for:
- Family emergency scams — calling the victim's family members, impersonating the victim in distress, and demanding urgent money transfers.
- Corporate fraud — impersonating a company executive to instruct staff to transfer funds.
- Bypassing voice-verification systems used by banks and financial institutions.
The MCMC released a two-minute social media video warning Malaysians, and the message was amplified by TM (Telekom Malaysia) and various community groups. The police also issued warnings, as reported on r/malaysia.
The "goodbye" variant may be a hybrid: Some scammers may use a short automated message to provoke the recipient into speaking ("Hello? Who is this? I can't hear you!"), thereby capturing a longer voice sample.
4. The Malaysian Context: Scale of the Problem
Malaysia faces an enormous volume of scam and spam calls:
| Metric | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Scam/spoof calls blocked by MCMC & telcos | 101.66 million | Feb–Aug 2026 |
| Total scam calls blocked | 2.5 billion | Jan 2022 – Jun 2026 |
| Suspicious SMS blocked | 3.04 billion | Jan 2022 – Jun 2026 |
| Mobile/fixed lines terminated | 190,429 | Jan 2022 – Jun 2026 |
| Scam-related content removal requests | 275,787 | Jan 2022 – Jun 2026 |
| Scam call complaints received by MCMC | 158 | Jan–Jul 2026 |
Sources: Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil (Parliamentary reply, July 2026); Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching (September 2026); Malay Mail; The Malaysian Reserve; Sinar Daily.
In Budget 2027 (tabled 10 October 2026), Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) will develop an AI-powered application allowing the public to check suspicious phone numbers, bank accounts, and links before making transactions.
5. Why These Calls Are Dangerous
Even the "harmless" predictive-dialer variant carries risks:
- Number verification: Answering confirms your number is active. This places you on suckers' lists sold between telemarketing and scam operations.
- Escalation: Victims report receiving more calls — sometimes multiple per day — from different numbers after answering the first one.
- Voice capture risk: If you speak, even briefly, your voice may be recorded for AI cloning.
- Psychological impact: The creepy nature of these calls causes anxiety, particularly among elderly recipients.
6. What You Should Do
If you receive such a call:
| Action | Rationale |
|---|---|
| Do NOT answer unknown numbers | Prevents number verification and voice capture |
| If you do answer, stay silent | Do not say "hello" — wait for the other party to speak first |
| If it is silent or says "goodbye," hang up immediately | Do not engage, do not press any buttons |
| Block the number | Though scammers rotate/spoof numbers, blocking reduces repeat calls from the same source |
| Report the number | Use your phone's built-in spam reporting, or report to your telco |
General protective measures:
- Register with the National Do Not Call Registry (though this only affects legitimate telemarketers).
- Enable spam filtering on your smartphone (most modern phones have built-in call screening).
- Use call-blocking apps such as Truecaller, Hiya, or your telco's anti-spam service.
- Educate elderly family members — they are the most vulnerable to both the voice-cloning scam and follow-up fraud.
- If you have lost money, immediately call the NSRC at 997 to freeze transactions.
7. Government and Industry Response
The Malaysian government has taken several steps:
- MCMC-telco collaboration: Since September 2024, telcos are required to block SMS containing hyperlinks, requests for personal information, and callback numbers.
- Spoofing gateway: MCMC and telcos jointly operate a system to block spoofed calls — 101.66 million blocked in just seven months (Feb–Aug 2026).
- NSRC AI app (upcoming): An AI tool for the public to verify suspicious numbers, accounts, and links before transacting.
- Safer Internet Campaign: MCMC is expanding this to all schools, focusing on cyberbullying and child exploitation.
- Public awareness: MCMC and police have issued multiple warnings through social media, press, and community channels.
8. Conclusion
The "goodbye" robocall phenomenon in Malaysia sits at the intersection of aggressive telemarketing technology and emerging AI-powered scam tactics. While some of these calls may be the harmless by-product of predictive diallers, the MCMC's December 2025 warning makes clear that silent and short automated calls are also being used for voice capture and cloning.
The safest course of action is: do not answer unknown numbers; if you do, stay silent; hang up immediately if the call is suspicious; and report it.
With over 100 million scam calls blocked in just seven months, the scale of the problem is enormous — but public awareness remains the most effective first line of defence.
9. References
- The Star, "Silence is golden in new call scam," 4 December 2025.
- Asia News Network, "Silence is golden in new call scam, as AI used to clone voices, says Malaysian commission," 4 December 2025.
- WPDH (New York), "New Yorkers Receiving Creepy Phone Calls That Simply Say 'Goodbye'," 9 April 2026.
- Malay Mail, "MCMC blocks 101.66 million scam calls with telcos under spoofing gateway from Feb to Aug 2026," 27 September 2026.
- Sinar Daily / Newswav, "Malaysia blocks billions of scam calls and messages, but how big is the threat?" 9 October 2026.
- Facebook — Developer Kaki group, post on robocalls saying "Bye, thank you."
- Reddit — r/Bolehland, "Is anyone getting robocalls where the robot voice…"
- Reddit — r/malaysia, "Police warn of AI-powered silent call voice cloning."
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