KUALA TERENGGANU: A total of 757 online scams involving losses of RM22.2 million, was recorded in Terengganu last year.
State police chief Datuk Roslee Chik said there was an increase of 139 cases (or 22%) compared to 2018 when 618 cases with RM20.09 million in losses were recorded.
He said investigation papers had already been opened for 38% of the 757 cases this year, with Macau scams, non-existent loans, forgeries and cyber crimes listed among the most common cases.
“The syndicates are actually operating from overseas, with scammers posing as policemen and bank officers among others,” he said, explaining that by using the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system, scammers could make the telephone numbers such as those of the police headquarters appear as the caller’s number on the mobile phones of victims.
Roslee told this to reporters here today after witnessing a ceremony to mark the handover of duties between Terengganu Commercial Crime Department chief Supt Mohd Rawi Ab Ghani who will be retiring on Feb 23, and the department’s deputy chief DSP Hamdan Zali who will take over as acting head. - Bernama
