Giving updates: Comm Ramli speaking during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur. — LOW LAY PHON/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: More than two-thirds of love scam victims are women, according to Bukit Aman statistics.
Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said statistics from 2022 to August this year showed that women made up 79.3% of the victims.
“This year till August, police recorded cases involving 368 female victims while 128 were males.
“Among the factors that have led to more female victims is that women are seen as more open in terms of emotions and personal relationships.
“Syndicates create strategies to take advantage of their empathy,” he said at a press conference here yesterday.
Losses recorded amounted to almost RM57mil and RM44mil in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Between January and August this year, Bukit Aman recorded losses of almost RM24mil.
“Analysis showed that no specific categories of people were targeted by such scammers. Anyone can fall victim.
“In 2022, a total of 211 victims were between the ages of 21 and 30. However, in 2023, the victims were mostly between the ages of 41 and 50, with 215 cases in total.
“As of August this year, victims were once again mostly between the ages of 21 and 30, with 178 cases,” he said.
Comm Ramli urged the public to be sceptical over such “relationships” and be aware of telltale signs such as sudden requests for money, inconsistent stories and “too good to be true profiles”.
Meanwhile, social media platform Telegram has been flagged by the police as the platform of choice for online scammers.
Of the 16 social media applications found to be most commonly used by scammers, Telegram topped the list with 1,346 cases followed by Facebook (948) and WhatsApp (873).
Comm Ramli urged the management of these applications to be more responsible regarding the content uploaded on their platforms, particularly online scams.
“This has already been enforced overseas with the recent charging of the CEO of Telegram in the French courts for allowing criminal activities to be conducted on the platform.
“Perhaps it is time for us to have the same approach due to the overflooding of unverified content, which has become a threat to society,” he said.
On investment scams, the police had recorded 3,863 cases from January to August this year, with losses estimated to be around RM484mil.
Comm Ramli also highlighted the case of a 49-year-old man who had been duped in an online investment scam, losing nearly RM5mil.
The victim, a company director, had been offered to join the “investment” in December 2022 with promised returns of up to US$2.9mil per year.
“Swayed by the offer, the complainant then transferred around RM4,328,750 into an overseas account that belonged to the ‘investment company’.
“However, until today, he has received no returns,” Comm Ramli said, adding that the victim lodged a report on Wednesday.
