JOHOR BARU: Police have recorded a total of RM4.5mil losses due to dubious transfers of account holders’ funds without the victims’ knowledge, says Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat.
The Johor police chief said that the number of cybercrimes involving such cases has also increased to 173 cases from January to May this year, compared to 26 cases in the same period last year.
“From January to May this year, we have received a total report on losses amounting to RM4.5mil involving 173 cases, compared to RM500,000 last year with 26 cases in the same period,” he said in a statement here on Monday (May 22).
Comm Kamarul Zaman added that investigations revealed that there are two main factors for such a crime to happen - victims giving out their personal information to the scammers, and victims clicking on dubious online links.
“There are victims who received calls from scammers claiming to be personnel from enforcement agencies.
“Scammers would then make up stories saying that the victim's bank account has been frozen due to criminal activities and would offer their ‘help’ by getting the card verification code or card verification value, username, password, and one-time password.
“There are also victims who fall for online advertising where victims are required to key in their bank account information, including their username and password, beside the one-time password, not knowing that information is given to the wrong hands,” he explained.
The victims would only notice that they have been duped after checking their bank account balance or receiving an SMS from the bank, he added.
“Members of the public are urged to be extra vigilant in sharing their personal banking information and only make online payments on a verified website, not through links given via SMS or apps.
“We also would like to suggest that members of the public download the secure verification or one-tap approval from their bank applications so that each financial transfer is safe,” he added.
