Celebs and influencers recruited for anti-scam drive

KUALA LUMPUR: Bukit Aman is targeting a 10% reduction in online scams with the appointment of 104 key opinion leaders (KOLs) as spokespersons or ambassadors for its anti-scam campaign.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said the appointment of these spokespersons was part of the police’s efforts in creating more awareness on scams.

“The ambassadors consists of celebrities, artistes, influencers, sports icons, businessmen and even religious scholars.

“Among the celebrities are Datuk Awie, Datuk Hattan and Zed Zaidi, while the sports icons are Datuk Lee Chong Wei and Lee Zii Jia,” he said during the ceremony appointing these ambassadors at the Police Training College here yesterday.

Of the 104 KOLs, 76 were appointed by the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID), while the remaining 28 were appointed by Multimedia Creative Solution Sdn Bhd (MSC), the CCID’s strategic partner for the campaign.

“They were appointed as they have a huge following, which enables them to approach the public easily and spread more awareness on the tactics of scammers,” he said.

While scams were hard to curb or prevent, they could be contained by providing society with sufficient knowledge on scamming tactics, Acryl Sani added.

“The ambassadors are free to spread more awareness on the matter in their own ways,” he said.

He also said 14,140 online scam cases that resulted in RM482mil in losses were recorded between January and August this year, a reduction of 6,561 cases compared with the 20,701 cases with RM560mil in losses recorded in the same period last year.

“Online purchases recorded the highest number of scams with 6,449 cases this year, with RM89mil in losses compared with 9,499 cases (RM73mil) last year.

“A total of 2,191 loan scams were recorded this year involving RM25mil in losses compared to 4,784 cases last year,” the IGP said.

Acryl Sani said 2,379 investment scams were recorded with RM151mil in losses this year compared with 3,195 cases (RM245mi) during the same period last year.

“For Macau scams, 2,439 cases were recorded involving RM147mil in losses compared with 1,585 cases (RM84mil) last year,” he said.

“A total of 549 African scam cases were recorded this year with RM39mil in losses while 1,460 cases (RM56mil) were recorded last year.”

There were 101 cases of scams through text messaging or SMS involving RM1.3mil in losses this year compared with 121 cases (RM1.7mil) last year.

“For email scams, we recorded 32 cases with RM28mil in losses this year compared with 57 cases (RM49mil) last year,” he added.