Police: 37 arrested over RM3.5m face mask scams during MCO

Police have arrested 39 Malaysians and charged 22 of them over face mask scams since the movement control order (MCO) period began.

In a statement today, Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Mohd Zakaria Ahmad said RM3,513,596.50 was lost to such scams between March 18 and April 3.

He said that 501 investigation papers were also opened into such cases.

“Police have arrested 39 people - 29 men and 10 women - of different ethnicities. All are Malaysians aged between 21 to 45 years old.

“Of this number, the police have charged 22 of them,” he said.

His tally of 39 arrests included the two who were arrested from Jan 1 until before the MCO began. 

Zakaria explained that the modus operandi for such scams usually involved scammers advertising face masks on social media platforms.

He was quoted by Malaysia Gazette as saying that an overwhelming majority of scams were initiated through Facebook (401 cases) followed by WhatsApp (65 cases) and WeChat (16 cases).

Unsuspecting customers would contact scammers through WhatsApp and make payment to the latter’s bank account.

Following payment, scammers would halt all communication with the customer and block the customer from its social media accounts. The masks would not be delivered.

Zakaria added that some scammers even provided customers with fake tracking numbers to make the transactions appear legitimate.

“But in fact, the tracking number is for other items and not for the scam victim,” the statement read.

He advised the public against falling prey to scammers by looking up reviews of online face mask vendors before making any purchases.

He recommended that the public verify the vendor’s bank account through the CCID’s “Semak Mule” portal.

Online vendors can also be verified through the Companies Commission’s BizTrust directory.

Alternatively, the CCID can be contacted via WhatsApp through 013 211 1222.  - Mkini