MCPF to tackle online fraud cases
Foundation also embarking on campaign to stop snatch theft in city
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) will embark on an aggressive campaign to help the authorities to address two main scourges in the city – online fraud and snatch theft.
Its Kuala Lumpur chapter chairman Bok Siew Mun (pic) said all its 120 members would be on the ground to distribute leaflets and meet the people.
“We will plan some of our own activities and crime prevention rounds, as well as join the police in community policing campaigns.
“It is the joint responsibility of all to create public awareness and ensure the people do not fall victim to scams and crimes of opportunity,” he said in an interview.
Bok said in a study released by Digi.com Bhd last year, Malaysia was found to be the most vulnerable country to Internet scams in the region, with 46% of respondents saying they had been victims.
He said the study also found that one in five people fell victims to both Internet auction scams and online dating scams, and that one in
10 had their Facebook hacked.
“Of those who have been subjected to online scams in Malaysia, the survey pointed out that six in 10 have lost money, with the average financial loss per person amounting to RM7,050.
“Many Malaysians were also found to be victims of online dating scams, where a scammer creates a fake profile on an online dating site to elicit money,” he said.
To address this, Bok said they would work closely with the police, Bank Negara, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, CyberSecurity Malaysia, and Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry to organise commercial crime prevention awareness campaigns.
Bok added that in recent weeks, there were many cases of snatch thefts at traffic light junctions and residential areas in the city centre.
“Targeted victims are single women,” he said, adding that MCPF would organise regular roadshows with the city police districts to hand out brochures in wet markets, night markets, convenience stores and shopping malls.
Bok said two other issues to be addressed later were students with disciplinary problems in schools and drug abuse in entertainment outlets.
He said a national convention would be held early next year to find solutions and to recommend that crime prevention be added to the school syllabus.
On drug abuse, Bok said synthetic drugs in the form of beverages, spray and chewing gum were now being sold in the market.
“In the past, it was in the form of pills. Now, you just to have drink, chew or inhale it and get high for hours. During a recent briefing by narcotics police, I was shown a cigarette laced with a new kind of drug.
“I was told it was sold in the black market for RM700 per packet,” he said, adding that he got a headache and increased heart rate with just a sniff.
Bok said he only recovered some three hours later, adding that a narcotics police told him that a urine test could not detect any trace of drugs.