KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has become a hub for African ‘love scams’ which seek to dupe local women of their hard-earned finances.
This is evident from the increasing number of losses resulting from the scams, which have skyrocketed from 2014.
Commercial Crimes Investigation Department Commissioner Police Datuk Sri Murtadza Nazarene said police have received reports from Interpol stating that Malaysia has become a hub for such scams.
He said that last year, losses incurred from ‘love scams’ in 2014 amounted to RM52 million.
“However, the figure increased to RM199 million last year,” he said.
Murtadza said the number of cases have also increased from 1,028 in 2014 to 1,521 cases in 2015.
Most of the victims, he said, were single mothers, lonely women, housewives, as well as working professionals.
Some local women, he said, even become accomplices of the syndicate members.
“Early this month, police picked up 13 people including two local women, under Ops Tiong' in Puchong and Cyberjaya. We also seized ATM cards, 36 cell phones, 12 laptops and various documents,” he told a press conference today.
Murtadza said the overall number of commercial crime cases incurred losses of RM2.4 billion last year, compared to RM1.1million in 2014, an increase by 95.1 per cent.
“From the total, RM1.6 billion in losses came from cheating cases, and RM199 million from 'African love scams'. As of last year, 7,019 people were nabbed for their involvement in commercial crime with 1,203 of them foreigners,” he said.
Murtadza said the department formulate plans to strengthen enforcement on cyber crimes, and collaborate with related agencies locally and internationally.