Selangor records RM56.9m in losses from online scams as of June

 

Selangor has recorded losses amounting to RM56.9 million from online fraud cases during the first six months of this year.

Selangor police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed said it involved 1,354 cases, which accounted for 75 percent of the total commercial cases in the state, with the Macau scam recording the highest number of online fraud.

“Based on our investigation, most (of the RM59.6 million) has been transferred abroad and caused losses to the country's economy," he said after launching the state-level Royal Malaysia Police Anti-Scam Campaign today.

Arjunaidi said for the period between January and June, more than 1,700 individuals were detained for their role as mule account owners.

It was the modus operandi of using mule accounts that made it difficult for the police to prove the involvement of real criminals in the scam, he added.

“I have expressed the need to amend or enact laws that are more in line with current developments. This is because this is an online crime. Our law does not cover online crimes.”

Arjunaidi Mohamed

He said the existing law under Section 420 of the Penal Code, namely fraud, needed to be amended so that it would be in line with the growing technology as it did not meet the situation with the online banking and money transfer system.

Meanwhile, he said a total of 392 billboards in Selangor will display video clips of the police’s anti-scam campaign for a month.

- Bernama