You would think that most Malaysians would know how to dodge a potential online scam, but according to the Malaysian police force, that's the opposite. Just recently, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani told the media that online scams were increasing instead.
In the statistics that were collected from police reports, there were 20,701 scams in 2021 with a loss of RM560.8 million. Compared to 2019, there were only 13,703 scam cases with a loss of RM539 million. The online scams include online trading, African scams, Macau scams, Business Email Compromised (BEC) scams, fake loans and SMS scams.
And in 2022 this year, from January until July, there are already 12,092 scam reports with a loss of RM414.8 million. On the bright side, most scammers have been arrested. From 2019 until July 2022, a total of 33,147 cyber-crime suspects were caught and 22,196 were brought to court.
The police said that scammers have been improving and exploiting technology these days, and the victims are usually those who are unaware of how scamming works. It is also predicted that youths and students would be the next target for scammers. The local banks are also cooperating with the police to facilitate and investigate the cases.
If you would like to report an online scam activity, you can contact the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) Infoline via Whatsapp at 013-2111222. You can also call the CCID Scam Response Centre between 8 AM and 10 PM at 03-26101559 or 03-26101599, as well as check "Semak Mule" portal here or via smartphone applications. Stay safe and stay tuned for more trending tech news at TechNave.com.
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