A total of 98,607 online fraud cases involving losses totalling RM3.3bil was reported nationwide from 2017 until 2021.
Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) assistant director (telecommunications criminal investigation) Supt Rozeni Ismail said during that period more than 30,000 individuals were detained and from the number, 25,000 individuals were charged in court.
“Most of them were mule account holders while those who were not charged in court were placed under the Crime Prevention Act 1959 which included restricted residence for a certain period of time,” he said during a town hall discussion on the threats posed by scammers in society here.
He said most of the cases involved Macau Scam, online sales and purchases, non-existent money loans and love scams.
Commenting further, Rozeni said that one of the reasons scammers managed to deceive their victims was that they operated using telephones or social media other than recruiting victims to become mule account holders.
“This is what makes the syndicates successful when recruiting people, regardless of giving, renting or allowing them to use their (bank) accounts for financial transactions from these online criminal activities.
“If we can successfully deal with the mule account holders, we believe that the police will be able to cripple the criminal activities of the scammers,” he said.
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