Picking and choosing victims
Chinese community likelier to be targeted by scammers owing to notion they have more savings, say police
KUCHING: Members of the Chinese community make up the majority of those targeted by scammers, according to police.
Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) head Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah said this was largely due to the belief that Chinese folk have larger sums of money in their bank accounts.
“Scams happen almost every day and are also reported in the news. Unfortunately, the victims are oblivious to the news and are unaware of such scams,” he told a press conference at SUPP Batu Lintang office, here yesterday.
He said other reasons that cause people to fal l victim are communication barrier as well as not understanding standard banking or government procedures.
According to him, among the more common scams to have popped up in Sarawak are Macau scam, love scam or also known as Africa scam, and investment scam.
“Love scams target those who are lonely and desperate for companionship. They (victims) would be willing to do anything for love.
“This scam is also usually linked to parcel scams, where the ‘companion’ claims to have sent the victim a gift as a gesture of love. Someone would later call the victim to inform that the socalled parcel had arrived, but that a fee needed to be paid to secure the release of the parcel,” Mustafa Kamal said.
Meanwhile, SUPP Youth Central assistant secretary Liew Leong Yee said a scam prevention talk will be held at the Sungai Maong community hall this Sunday ( March 10) at 9am.
The talk, he said, is a joint effort by SUPP Youth Central, Tabuan Jaya Chamber of Commerce, Sungai Maong Community Association and SUPP Batu Lintang branch.
It would be conducted by Sarawak CCID officers in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin, with similar ones scheduled to be held in Batu Kawa and at SUPP headquarters in April and May, respectively.
“Sungai Maong is chosen as the
Scams happen almost every day and are also reported in the news. Unfortunately, the victims are oblivious to the news and are unaware of such scams. Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah, Sarawak CCID head
venue because we want to reach out to the Chinese community there, many of whom have fallen victim to scammers. We are expecting about 200 people to attend this Sunday,” Liew said.
He added based on statistics provided by police, the number of scam cases in Sarawak rose in 2018 compared to the year before.
He revealed that 208 cases of Macau scam involving losses of RM10.5 million were reported last year, a stark increase from 74 cases involving RM2.6 million in losses reported in 2017.
There was a similar upward t rend for love scams and investment scams, where losses of RM5.9 million and RM14.1 million were respectively reported in 2018, compared to RM2.2 million and RM4.5 million respectively the year before.
Tabuan Jaya Chamber of Commerce chairman Penghulu Datuk Alex Pui Chow Hin, MBKS councillor Johnny Lim Swee Chiaw and Sungai Maong Community Association chairman Penghulu Giam Ann Kee were among those present at the press conference.