KUALA LUMPUR: A whopping RM14.3bil was lost to commercial crimes from 2019 to 2023, involving 156,029 cases nationwide, says Bukit Aman.
Bukit Aman's Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director, Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf, said analysis showed that a 53.2% increase in cases was recorded in 2023 compared to five years ago.
According to him, in 2019, 26,330 cases were recorded involving losses of RM6.2bil, while in 2020, 27,323 cases were recorded with losses of RM2bil.
"Then, in 2021, 31,490 cases were recorded with a loss of RM2.2bil.
"For 2022, the number of cases continued to increase with 30,536 cases reported involving losses of RM1.7bil, and the number of cases continued to increase in 2023 with 40,350 cases involving losses of RM2.1bil," he told reporters on Thursday (Jan 5).
He said from the aspect of the value of losses, over the past five years, the total losses recorded have reached RM14.3bil, involving 156,029 cases.
Comm Ramli said fraud, including online fraud cases, dominated the total number of cases with 36,030 out of 40,350 cases with losses of RM1.6bil.
"A total of 1,215 criminal breaches of trust cases were reported involving RM380.3mil in losses while 47 misappropriations of property cases were also reported with losses of RM2.5mil); cybercrime with 867 cases (RM35.6mil); forgery with 138 cases (RM6.8mil); counterfeit money with 970 cases (RM385,467); and ah long (unlicensed money lenders) with 994 cases (RM5.4mil).
"For online fraud cases, 34,497 cases were recorded involving losses of RM1.2bil, equivalent to 85% of the total number of cases," he said.
He said that 11,473 e-commerce crime cases were recorded last year involving losses of RM204mil, followed by telecommunication crimes (10,348 cases, RM353mil ), non-existent investment (5,386 cases, RM472.1mil), non-existent loans (4,263 cases, RM105mil) and love scams (935 cases, loss of RM43.9mil).
According to Ramli, the technology boom and telecommunications development have had a significant impact, especially in the existence of various new fraudulent modus operandi.
"As expected, the development of this technology will impact the increase of commercial crime cases.
"This increase in the number of cases has presented a great challenge to CCID because, throughout the last five years, the number of investigative officers has remained the same," he said.
He added if measured based on the current strength of 839 people, the ratio of investigating officers and investigation papers opened is 1:48.
"The total of 48 investigation papers for one year is not ideal for an investigating officer. This does not include cases from the previous year and other assignments that must be carried out.
"Therefore, our side is trying to increase the number of CCID members more intensively this year," he said.
