EXCLUSIVE On top of the scams list: Beating the cheats
Ecommerce fraud cases outnumber those of investments and loans
KUALA LUMPUR: When Covid-19 struck in early 2020 and millions of people were stuck at home with nowhere to go, online shopping started picking up and not long after, so did ecommerce scams.
According to the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID), over RM305.94mil was lost to ecommerce scams between 2021 and August 2023.
Its director Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf (pic) told The Star that over the last three years, his department had observed that ecommerce scams were becoming more prevalent nationwide.
Ecommerce scams refer to fraudulent online shopping offers and tend to feature “sellers” offering bogus items either on online purchasing platforms or via social media platforms.
In most cases, the seller disappears without a trace once they receive payment from their victims.
“In terms of cases being reported, ecommerce has topped the charts since 2021 with 9,499 cases recorded that year, 9,253 cases in 2022 and 7,911 cases between January and August this year,” said Comm Ramli.
“The top three types of scams reported are ecommerce scams, bogus loans and investment scams.
“Based on our statistics, cases of ecommerce scams reported greatly outnumber the other two types.
“In the past three years, 26,663 ecommerce scam cases were reported between January 2021 and August 2023 compared with 10,759 loan scams and 9,640 investment scams reported over the same period.”
He added that while losses from ecommerce scams had been on the rise since 2021, the biggest increase was seen this year with RM144.82mil in losses recorded between January and August.
“The year has not even ended yet and already we have recorded a RM56.73mil increase in losses compared with the RM88.09mil recorded in 2022. In 2021, we recorded RM73.02mil in losses,” he said.
He added that between January and August this year, police arrested 3,659 suspects in connection with ecommerce scams.
Comm Ramli said cheating cases were becoming more challenging to curb, as technology had allowed scammers to go online.
“There is no more face-to-face between the victim and the perpetrator when it comes to online scams, which makes it tough for suspects to be identified and brought to justice.
“There is room for us to improve ourselves. As online scams increase, we need to better equip ourselves with new laws that are more relevant to combat such scams,” he said, adding that he welcomed a multi-agency approach to tackle these new forms of crime.
When asked if the police were beefing up their strategies and equipment to combat scam syndicates, Comm Ramli said they were working with other agencies such as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission as well as Bank Negara Malaysia.
“As criminals evolve, we, too, have to evolve in order to stay one step ahead of them. I will not elaborate on our strategies as it may open the door to the scam syndicates to alter their modus operandi, but rest assured that we are doing our part to fight them head to head.
“We are also part of the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) and I must say that in terms of efficiency, it is quite effective,” he said.
He said anyone who feared that they have been scammed can contact the NSRC at 997 and action would be taken immediately.
Comm Ramli said there were some procedural matters being tweaked in order to make their efforts more proactive.
He added that their main aim was to retrieve the money for the victims.
There has been a 58% drop in cases of unauthorised banking transactions reported to the National Scam Response Centre in the past five months because of measures to counter scammers.
The Star Malaysia
by charles ramendran and Junaid IBRAHIM
— THOMAS YONG/The starAn educational meeting: Kamarul Zaman (left) speaking to some teachers during the threat of scammers in current times town hall session at bank simpanan nasional, Johor baru. teachers are among the most common victims of online scams, which have resulted in over rm10.02mil in losses this year alone.
> Kill switch
Deactivates bank accounts and app access in the event of scams.
> Single device
Applies authentication apps to a restricted single device.
> Emergency centre
Combats scams through National Scam Response Center hotline at 997.
Special measures taken by financial institutions in recent months to counter unauthorised banking transactions commonly pulled off by scammers have borne fruit with commendable results.
Bank Negara governor Datuk Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said the introduction of measures such as restricting authentication apps to a single device and introducing a “kill switch” for bank clients to freeze their accounts when they became accessible to hackers or scammers has resulted in a steep decline of 58% in unauthorised banking transactions reported to the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) in the past five months.
He said the NSRC, which was launched a year ago, has received over 19,000 reports on scam cases, which led to the identification of 43,000 mule bank account holders and the freezing of more than Rm60mil.
“These early signs are very encouraging, and I trust we will see a further decline in cases as we go forward.
“As for the NSRC, I am pleased that efforts to take it to the next level are underway. Falling victim to financial fraud is undoubtedly difficult for those affected, with some victims losing their entire life savings and struggling to regain their economic footing,” said Abdul Rasheed during the launch of the 13th International Conference on Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing (IFCTF) 2023 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here.
He said dealing with financial crimes demands integrity, which is the key to preserving public confidence and trust in the financial system.
Abdul Rasheed said whether the role is in prevention, supervision or enforcement, reporting institutions, regulators, supervisors, and law enforcement agencies alike must discharge their mandate with full integrity.
“As our economy continues to grow, we must remain vigilant against evolving threats. The five high-risk crimes – corruption, fraud, drug trafficking, smuggling and organised crimes – that were identified in the National Risk Assessment (NRA) 2020 will continue to be our focus.
“However, given the evolving landscape, we have commenced a renewed risk assessment and will share our findings in the first half of 2024,” he said.
Also present at the event was Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers (AICB) chairman Tan Sri Azman Hashim.
In a briefing with the media at the event, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) commissioner (online harms and network security committee) Derek John Fernandez said the escalation of online crimes is a worldwide trend and a result of digitalisation.
He said online criminals are emboldened as they can remain anonymous and safe from even the long arm of the law with the use of sophisticated technology, some of military grade, to penetrate their targets and escape untraced.
He said between 2018 and August 2023, the MCMC blocked 2.5 billion phone calls on suspicion of being involved in crimes.
According to him, the commission disabled 4,000 phishing sites between 2020 and August 2023.
Derek said from 2021 to August 2022, 581 million SMSES were blocked, and 237,999 mobile and fixed phone lines linked to the suspicious messages had their services terminated.
He said for the same period, 70 million peer-to-peer SMSES with suspicious hyperlinks were also prevented from reaching its intended recipients.
Derek said, on the request of the police, the commission also shut down 29 websites suspected to be involved in cheating activities.
He said 7,754 social media accounts were also flagged, with action taken for impersonation.
“This is a small fraction of the problem. In reality, it is seven times bigger because most people do not report their cases. This is the challenge faced by the MCMC,” he said.
At the same event, the Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) and the Association of Islamic Banking and Financial Institutions of Malaysia (AIBIM) launched their anti-scam awareness campaign, #Jangankenascam.
ABM chairman Datuk Khairusalleh Ramli said according to an industry survey on scam awareness for bank clients, nine out of 10 of them read scam alerts and were updated on the latest scam tactics, but only 60% of them felt they were prepared to counter the scams.
He said the survey also revealed that close to 80% of bank clients believe victims of scams exposed their banking credentials inadvertently to the fraudsters.
“To fight scammers, we need to learn their language. We hope that the experiential aspect of the #Jangankenascam campaign, together with the introduction of the anti-scam resource centre at www.jangankenascam.com, can provide the public with an avenue that enables them to understand the manipulation techniques used by scammers in financial scams.
“They must be alert at all times and not share their banking information with anyone,” he said.
Johor police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat wants a scam response centre set up in the state to combat scams more effectively.
“Currently, the national scam response centre is set up in the capital city and I hope that a similar centre can be set up in Johor at the state police headquarters,” he said.
“This way, those in Johor who need help can seek help directly and we will have access to the information too.
“If the operating hours are an issue, they can use the IPK (Johor police headquarters) as we are on standby 24 hours a day,” he said during the Threat of Scammers in Current Times town hall session with teachers at Bank Simpanan Nasional here yesterday.
The National Scam Response Centre collaborates with the police, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, the National Anti-financial Crime Centre and financial institutions.
The public can call the centre’s hotline at 997 if they fear falling victim to a scam or head to the nearest police station.
He also said that teachers are among the most common victims of online scams, which have resulted in over Rm4.24mil in losses so far this year.
He said 117 teachers reported getting scammed from January to September this year.
“Scammers usually do not target a certain group of people as they randomly pick their potential victims.
“However, Johor has a large number of teachers – more than 50,000 – so the probability of scammers preying on teachers is higher,” he said.
Teachers were part of the total of 388 scammed civil servants, involving a value of Rm10.02mil, he said.
“In terms of value, the amount recorded in the first nine months of the year was higher than the value of Rm3.41mil recorded in the same period last year.
“According to police investigations, most fraud occurred via mobile phone calls or text messages,” said Kamarul Zaman.
“This is why we are prioritising educators. We hope to engage with the public and departments, such as the Education Department, about prevention and ways of identifying scam calls,” he said, adding that about 250 teachers statewide attended the town hall session.
He also urged the public to be in tune with the news and look for the latest scam trends to avoid falling into the trap.
Bank Negara governor Datuk Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said the introduction of measures such as restricting authentication apps to a single device and introducing a “kill switch” for bank clients to freeze their accounts when they became accessible to hackers or scammers has resulted in a steep decline of58%in unauthorised banking transactions reported to the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) in the past five months.
According to the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID), over RM305.94mil was lost to ecommerce scams between 2021 and August 2023.
“The top three types of scams reported are ecommerce scams, bogus loans and investment scams.
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