Abang Ahmad (second left) and others at the monthly parade to celebrate the birthdays of police personnel from the district headquarters who were born in September.
KUCHING:All single women have been reminded to take extra precautions to avoid from falling victim to online love scams.
District police chief ACP Abang Ahmad Abang Julai said from January to September this year, 33 cases of online love scams were reported here, versus only 11 cases recorded during the same period last year.
He said the amount of losses suffered by the victims rose to RM1,438,845 so far this year, from RM516,520 in the corresponding period last year.
“The largest loss was incurred by a 50-year-old female civil servant, who lodged a report at the end of August claiming to have lost RM436,870 to a supposedly European man whom she had befriended via Facebook.
“She got acquainted with this man in mid-April this year and deposited RM333,518 into various accounts at his request.
“In mid-August, she deposited another RM103,352 into another account after her `friend’ told her that he had been detained at Kuala Lumpur International Airport en route to meeting up with her; hence, he needed the money to secure his release,” he told reporters after having led a monthly parade at Tabuan Jaya police station here yesterday.
Abang Ahmad said another tactic favoured by scammers was to inform their victims that they had mailed them a valuable parcel, which had been held up by the Customs Department.
“The victim would then be contacted by a person claiming to be from the department and asked to deposit a sum of cash into an account to secure the clearance of the non-existent parcel.”
It is learned that in the majority of cases, the victims were single women or single mothers in their late 30s or 40s and were seeking romantic relationships.
“Based on the information compiled, we have also found that the victims tend to be career-focused women who have saved quite a bit of money.
“They are the ones who are usually targeted by the scammers, who spend months grooming themselves so that they would be able to gain their (these women’s) trust before reeling them in.”
Most scammers, he added, used online profile pictures of random Caucasian-looking men to attract the attention of their targets. Based on past arrests, the perpetrators are usually of African descent.
“My message to those currently engaged in online relationships is simple—do not be easily fooled by the sweet words of your social media acquaintances. You must do a thorough background check before making any financial transaction or transfer.
Earlier, Abang Ahmad called on his men to continue working hard to ensure that the crime rate in the district would continue to decline.
He said this district recorded a drop of 13.98 per cent in the number of cases reported—from 1,345 registered in the first nine months of last year to 1,157 in the same period this year.
Deputy OCPDs Supt Abang Junaidi Abang Anuar (Operations) and Supt Ismail Mahmood (Administration) also attended the monthly police parade yesterday.