KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 14,490 cases of online fraud, with losses exceeding RM581 million, were recorded from Jan 1 till June 15, deputy law and institutional reform minister M Kula Segaran said.
He said the cases involved telecommunication crimes, e-financial crimes, love scams, e-commerce crimes, and non-existent loans and investments.
“In 2022, there were 25,479 cases, but in 2023, this increased to 34,495.
“Losses amounted to more than RM851 million in 2022 and surpassed RM1 billion in 2023,” he said during a special chamber session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to a question from Vivian Wong (PH-Sandakan) about the increasing number of people falling victim to fraud.
Kula also reported that 7,960 arrests had been made, resulting in 5,933 charges in court, as of May.
“Bukit Aman commercial CID conducted 3,689 crime prevention programmes from January to May to raise community awareness,” he said.
To combat scams more effectively, he said, the government planned to amend some existing laws, enabling more effective prosecution of perpetrators. These are in the final stages of engagement with stakeholders. - FMT
