KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 1,918 commercial crime cases with losses totalling RM92.1mil were recorded between Jan 1 and 15, says Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf.
The Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director said this was a 42.7% spike from 1,344 cases in the same period last year.
"Some 86.2% of the commercial crime cases this year are online scams with 1,654 cases.
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"The percentage of online scams is also on the rise. It was 53% of the total cases (in the same period) last year," he told a press conference at CCID headquarters here on Friday (Jan 26).
He added that the amount of losses through online scams reached about RM72mil this year compared to RM39.8mil last year.
"This is an 81% increase and shows online scam cases are definitely spiking," he added.
Comm Ramli said these figures showed that more effort is needed to fight such crimes.
"We urge all segments of society to work together and take part in commercial crime prevention efforts.
"The police will also step up its operations on scammers," he said.
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On another matter, Comm Ramli said a total of 5,389 investment scam cases involving RM472mil in losses were recorded last year.
"The losses from investment scams represented 38.7% of the losses incurred from commercial crime cases.
"We conducted 4,170 operations and detained 3,409 individuals connected to investment scams last year," he said.
Comm Ramli said that as of Jan 15 this year, losses from investment scams reached RM44mil or 44.7% of overall losses from commercial crimes.
"We detected 744 individuals, or 13% of the victims last year, were aged 60 and above.
"It is a sharp increase of 213% compared to 237 people in 2022," he added.
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Comm Ramli advised senior citizens to be more careful when using social media.
"Do sufficient checks before believing investment offers advertised online," he said.
The main types of investment scams were based on stocks, forex and digital currency, he added.
"The syndicates commonly advertise their schemes on social media. Victims who click on the link given will be (linked to) the perpetrator via WhatsApp.
"The victim will be added to a WhatsApp group to convince them that the investment is legitimate, (with) the syndicate's cohorts posing as traders and investors to show that the scheme garners profits.
"After being convinced, the victim will then register and deposit an initial investment to a mule account.
"The victim will subsequently buy shares based on instructions from the WhatsApp group.
"Despite seeing their investment supposedly earning returns, the victim will realise it is a scam when they are unable to make any withdrawals," he said.
Comm Ramli said various factors contributed to people being duped by such scams, including investments offered without risk, lack of investment knowledge, convincing advertising tactics, and the desire for fast and easy profit.
"We advise the public to seek more knowledge on investment and don't join schemes that Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission have not approved.
"If it's too good to be true, it is probably a scam.
"Most investments have inherent risks, and no legitimate scheme would use personal bank accounts to receive investments," he said.
