KUCHING: Love, non-existent loans and e-commerce fraud cases saw a drastic increase of 68.42 percent during the first three months of this year, registering losses estimated at RM11 million.
Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Aidi Ismail said during the period under review, a total of 576 cases were reported as compared to only 342 cases with losses estimated at RM24 million for the whole of last year.
Aidi said of the cases, non-existent loans topped the list with 115 cases involving losses estimated at RM1.4 million.
Second are the Macau Scam and African Scam (Love/Parcel Scam) which reported losses at RM1.09 million each.
Aidi said a total of 46 cases were reported involving Macau Scam while African Scam 42 cases.
Online purchase or e-commerce fraud recorded 134 cases with losses estimated at RM536,000.
He said e-commerce fraud saw an increase of 143.64 percent as compared with the whole of last year which recorded 55 cases and losses estimated at RM602,000.
Aidi said the increase in the number of cases was due mainly to the victims being overwhelmed by the cheaper price of goods offered and also the quick delivery of goods promised.