Mancha fields questions from reporters. – Photo by Galileo Petingi
KUCHING (April 30): Many individuals in Sarawak still fall victim to scams, said state police commissioner Datuk Mancha Ata.
He said scam cases such as non-existent investments as well as job scams are on the rise in Sarawak.
“Various efforts have been made – there are awareness campaigns, townhalls at the police level and so on but despite all those efforts, these scams still occur. This is caused by the victims’ attitude where they fall prey to the offers made by the scammers.
“The MO (modus operandi) remains the same – the scammer makes an offer, the victim clicks (on various links) and finally ends up being cheated and has to make payments,” he told reporters when met after a handing over of duties ceremony at the Sarawak Contingent Police Headquarters here on Tuesday.
Mancha called on the public to remain alert regarding scams, adding they should not be influenced by any offers shown on social media.
“On phone scams where suspects call saying the victim is involved in a crime and they can settle the case, that is untrue. The police will not inform individuals via phone calls – individuals have to come to the nearest police station and give their statements,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, according to a study conducted by the Sarawak Commercial Crimes Investigation Department, a total of 597 cases were recorded from Jan-March 31 this year on various commercial crime cases involving losses of RM28.6 million.
The study cited e-commerce scams as the highest number of cases, with 154 cases involving losses of RM1.4 million, followed by investment scams (58 cases, RM11.1 million in losses), non-existent loans (55 cases, RM432,000 in losses) and 46 cases of breach-of-trust (RM7.4 million in losses).
“A total of 244 arrests were made this year. A total of 374 individuals (including those from previous cases) were charged in court,” said the department in a statement.