JOHOR BHARU : Being aware of the tactics used by scammers in duping their victims is among the main defences the public has to avoid being fleeced.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani(pix) said today that scammers are getting sharper in their conversational skills and more sophisticated in the digital devices they use by the day.
He said as such, public awareness of the existence of scams, especially phone scams, was crucial to avoid falling victim.
Acryl Sani said between 2020 and last month, the commercial crimes investigations department (CCID) investigated 71,833 cases that caused losses worth RM5.2 billion.
“Out of the total, 68%, or 48,830, of the cases involved online scams. It’s a huge number and billions of ringgit were lost,“ he said after launching the Anti-Scam Campaign by police at the Mid-Valley Southkey mall here.
Acryl Sani said such campaigns have proven to be effective in lowering cases involving Macau scams, love scams and phone scams as it brought awareness to the public.
However, he said e-commerce scams have risen steeply.
Acryl Sani said in 2020, there were 5,851 cases reported, while in 2021 it rose to 9,269 cases and until May this year, there were 3,833 cases.
As for action against scammers, he said 30% of the thousands of cases since 2020 were solved.
“We will continue launching this campaign in every state to update the public on the latest tactics used by scammers. We will also prepare a text for it to be included in the Friday prayer sermons and engage social media influencers to help with our campaign,“ he said.
