Photo: Bernama
SEREMBAN: The number of online scams reported may have decreased but the amount of losses has continued to be on the uptrend, says Deputy Comm Datuk Ahmad Dzaffir Mohd Yussof (pic).
The Negri Sembilan police chief said 1,710 cases were recorded in the state in the first eight months of this year involving RM47.1mil in losses as against 2,024 cases with losses totalling RM40.9mil in the corresponding period of 2023.
Similarly, the number of cases nationwide during the same period totalled 23,603 with RM1.4bil in losses compared to 24,282 cases with losses totalling RM1.08bil in the first eight months of last year.
"The number of cases has decreased but the losses reported have increased slightly.
"This can also mean that scammers have now started targeting victims who have more money," he said at the launch of the state-level "Cyber Crime Threat: Say No To Scam" town hall session held at the MBS Hall.
Some 700 people including those from government departments and agencies, the private sector, non-governmental organisations, resident associations, village committees and banks attended the programme.
DCP Ahmad Dzaffir said Seremban and Nilai were also in the top 20 of the country's 157 districts which reported the most number of online scams.
Seremban which had 701 cases so far this year was ranked sixth while Nilai with 434, came in at number 15.
"One of the factors both places had a higher number of cases was probably because of the opening of new residential areas with more people living here and travelling daily to work in the Klang Valley," he said.
There are six categories of online scams. These are investment, e-commerce, telecommunication, e-finance, love and loan scams.
In his speech earlier, DCP Ahmad Dzaffir reminded the people to always be alert whenever they received calls or messages from unknown individuals.
He said they should also be vigilant as scammers always use new methods to dupe their victims.
"Any individual can become a victim if they are not alert.
"I, for example, once received a message on my Telegram account from a 'friend' asking for help when that very same friend was at the same table having a meal with me," he said, adding that the scammer had used his friend's photograph in his attempt to scam him.
DCP Ahmad Dzaffir said that people should always use logic and think rationally when people unknown to them make unusually high investment offers or accuse them of being involved in crime.
"If someone offers you massive returns on an online investment, for example, remember the saying that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is not," he said.
He also urged the people to check whatever information was sent to them on government websites and to ask around if they were not sure.
"Also remember that enforcement agencies such as the police, for example, will never deal with you via online.
"The police for example will never ask you to pay a bail online or to transfer your money into a special account," he added.
