MALAYSIANS lose an average of RM100,000 a day to cyber scammers as they target the increasing number of people shopping online.
Police statistics show an almost 70% spike in online shopping fraud cases this year compared with last year, as more people ditch physical stores in favour of virtual shopping as part of the new normal amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to a report published in China Press yesterday, as of Dec 20, police received a total of 5,759 cases of online shopping fraud, involving a total of RM35,882,385.
This was a hike of 69.8% compared with the same period last year, which saw 3,390 cases involving RM22,490,837.
It also means that unsuspecting Malaysian shoppers are fleeced of an average of RM100,000 a day, with each case averaging RM6,200.
Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Zainuddin Yaacob told the vernacular daily the majority of people who were cheated paid for purchases of smartphones and car accessories priced between a few hundred and several thousand ringgit.
He said in most cases, the scammers would ask shoppers to remit half the purchase price, telling them that they need only pay the balance upon delivery of the goods.
“Once the money changed hands, the scammers would give excuses for late delivery of goods. Eventually, they would become uncontactable. Only then would shoppers realise that they had been scammed,” said Zainuddin.
He disclosed that Facebook is the first choice of online scammers, with 2,319 cases reported this year involving a total of RM14,503,786, followed by Mudah.my (1,110 cases and RM3,668,437), Instagram (1,087 cases and RM5,466,886), WhatsApp (539 cases and RM5,685,916) and Shopee (224 cases and RM836,531).
Other social media and e-commerce platforms used by scammers include Carousell, Lazada, WeChat as well as Telegram.
Zainuddin did not discount the possibility of the existence of online shopping scam syndicates but said police have yet to cripple any of them.
Police will step up monitoring and raise public awareness on online shopping scams in anticipation of a further spike in such crime in the coming year.
