KOTA KINABALU: Over RM8mil has been lost to online scams reported in Kota Kinabalu thus far this year, says city police chief Asst Comm Kasim Muda.
He said their commercial crime investigation division has so far opened a total of 302 probes between May and July this year which involved losses of RM37.76mil and added that 203 of those cases were online scams.
“Online scams were the highest number of cases recorded with losses breaching RM8.15mil,” he said when speaking to reporters at the city police headquarters in Kepayan here on Thursday (Aug 8).
Among the crimes reported, he said of them was an online scam which involved losses amounting to RM1.5mil.
“Five of these cases were deemed high-profile as it involved the impersonation of account holders to enable the withdrawal of funds amounting to RM24.7mil from fixed deposits at a commercial bank,” said ACP Kasim.
“In the same period, we arrested 90 suspects involved in various commercial crimes. From these arrests, 24 suspects involved individuals with a Datuk title, government officials and bank officers,” he added.
He said 10 of these suspects have been charged in court under Section 130V(1) of the Penal Code for being a member of an organised crime group while the charging for the rest were still pending.
“Other detainees who were charged involved mule account holders for permitting or renting out their accounts as well as ATM cards to third parties.
The suspects were charged after they failed to provide a clear explanation on why their accounts were involved in fraud cases,” ACP Kasim said.
Towards this end, he advised the public to be alert and on guard especially towards the latest tactics used by scammers so that they will avoid from falling prey to such crimes.
He said the people could contact the relevant authorities including police if they were unsure of certain activities.
He also urged the public to participate in commercial crime prevention activities so they will be updated with the latest information.
