Kuching: Chinese topped the list of all scams in Sarawak. These include Macau scam, bogus investment, African scam, lending scam and Internet scam. Of the number of cases received, over 50 per cent of
victims are Chinese.
Total amount of money lost in scams between January and October 10 this year amounted to RM 28,025,303.21, disclosed Sarawak Head of Commercial Crime, Supt Mustafa Kamal.
In an interview yesterday, Mustafa said the people must be cautious of their own money. When you received strangers’ call to discuss money matters, it should set off an alarm bell in you.
“Do not listen. Put the phone down as this will prevent them from scaring you into departing with your hard earned money. No agencies, be it financial institution or government agencies will deal with you on money matter through phones,” he advised.
Mustafa warned that calls were made through ‘voice over internet protocol’ (VOIP) meaning that the numbers called to victims were from government agencies or banks as stated by the callers. He said subsequently, the
callers will contact the victims through mobile phones.
“That is why when some victims verified the numbers, they found it to be genuine agencies numbers and were conned,’ he said.
Mustafa said no matter what numbers shown, never forget that no agency deals with money through the phones.
He said a number of elderly people were conned and asked the children to let their parents know of the tactics.
“It is good to educate your friends, your families so that they will not fall prey to the syndicates,’ he said.
From investigations, Mustafa said all the calls were made overseas with Malaysians and foreigners involved. The syndicate will now transfer money fast to a lot of accounts to avoid detection. Normally, he said, it was through an account but from investigation, once the money was banked in, the syndicate would start to transfer money to several accounts.
He warned the youngsters not to ‘lend’ their accounts or ‘sell’ them to syndicates as they could be implicated and charged too.
The highest amount scammed in Sarawak within the 10 months was through bogus
investment where a total of RM12,568,770 was conned from 94 persons, out of which 62 are Chinese .
The victims’ age group was between 21 and 74 with the highest number of 48 people conned in Kuching compared to other districts.
Macau scam saw an increase from seven cases last year to 35 this year. The highest amount cheated was from a person who lost RM831,348.34. The total number of people scammed was 151 with Chinese numbering 90.
African scam also increased from one to four cases this year and the highest amount scam was RM712,541.08. Of 79 people scammed, 35 are Chinese.
There was no lending scam last year and this year saw 35 cases of which the highest amount was RM65,400. For Internet scam, there was a decrease of four cases from six last year to two this year. The highest amount lost was RM532,520.
Mustafa said there were cases of female who kept sending money to suspects non-stop even though they have never met them. He said once they discovered they were cheated and reported to the police, they
were in fear as a few had been blackmailed for sending over lewd photos. He urged victims to come forward as the suspects are ruthless as they will forever be asking for money.
Police deal with each case professionally so they should seek assistance if they are being blackmailed, he advised.
