KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 — The nationwide commercial crime rate has recorded a drop of almost 50 per cent since the implementation of the movement control order (MCO).
Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Mohd Zakaria Ahmad said a total of 9,215 cases were reported from January 1 until yesterday, involving losses amounting to RM717.million.
“Of the total, 3,074 cases were reported during the MCO (from March 18 until yesterday) period.
“In the context of commercial crimes, although the rate has shown a downward trend, the number of overall cases reported are still high,” he told Bernama.
He said online cheating cases were the types of commercial crimes that recorded the highest number namely at 8,245, followed by criminal breach of trust (428 cases), criminal misappropriation of property (18 cases), cyber crimes (111), illegal money lending (292 cases) and counterfeit banknotes (91 cases).
He said the online fraud cases such as non-existence loan schemes, fake prize draw text messages, e-commerce, African scams and Macau scams had also recorded a drop.
Mohd Zakaria added that so far, police had not received any report of fraud cases with regard to the payment of the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional cash assistance and the withdrawal of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
“However, we will continue to closely monitor the situation to prevent the public from falling victim to fraud,” he added.
In a separate development, Mohd Zakaria said a total of 709 online fraud cases related to the sale of face masks have been recorded as of yesterday, involving losses of RM7.32 million.
“During the MCO period alone, a total of 510 cases were recorded involving losses of more than RM5 million,” he said.
— Bernama
