Photo for illustration purposes only.
KUCHING (Oct 5): Commercial crimes in Sarawak jumped by 88.25 per cent from Jan 1 to Aug 31 this year compared to the same period last year, said Sarawak police commissioner Datuk Aidi Ismail.
He said 1,922 commercial crime cases were recorded during the first eight months of this year, compared to 1,021 cases during the same period last year.
“This is an increase of 901 cases or 88.25 per cent, an increase that is almost doubled.
“The losses incurred for that period in 2021 was RM38.9 million, while for the same period in 2020, it was RM52.8 million,” he said during his opening speech for the October edition of the Virtual Sarawak Financial Awareness (ViSFA) Campaign on Zoom today.
Aidi said the state’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) is responsible for investigating criminal cases of fraud, breach of trust, cybercrime, counterfeiting, unlicensed money lenders (Ah Long), counterfeit money, and the like.
He said among the commercial crime cases that involved the most victims in Sarawak was loan fraud or loans that did not exist, which amounted to 326 cases and losses totalling RM3.1 million.
“Others include Macau Scam with 120 cases and losses of RM4.1 million; online impersonation with 96 cases and losses of RM597,000; car sales and purchase with 92 cases and RM980,000 losses; and love scam or parcel scam with 88 cases and a loss of RM1.9 million,” he said.
Aidi also revealed the typical modus operandi of scams based on the cases that occurred in the state.
“The scam syndicate will disguise (themselves) as the police, the court, MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission), IRB (Inland Revenue Board), Bank Negara Malaysia, commercial banks, Pos Laju, and others.
“Then the victim will be instructed to make a payment of an amount of money for various reasons designed by the syndicate with the intention to obtain money from the victim,” he said.
Aidi reminded the public not to panic or be afraid of being arrested if they did not commit any crime.
“The police and other government agencies will never contact individuals via telephone calls to inform them about criminal cases, let alone try to resolve via phone contact.
“They also will never ask you to put money into the account of any individual to resolve a case,” he stressed.
He also pointed out that the call recipient must never disclose banking or financial information to these callers and must immediately end the call.
“Also, contact or consult the nearest police station if you are concerned.
“Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department has created an infoline for the public to channel their complaints or queries regarding commercial crimes,” he said.
The public can contact the CCID infoline on 013-2111222 or the CCID Scam Response Centre on 03-26101559.