Over 1,500 commercial crime cases reported since beginning of this year, say Johor cops

JOHOR BARU: More than 1,500 commercial crime cases have been reported to the Johor police since the beginning of this year, says state police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat.

He said that the number of cases the police received this year has seen an increase of about 12% from 1,413 cases reported during the same period last year.

"A majority of the cases involved scams. Of the 1,578 commercial crime cases we received this year, 1,247 or 79% of them are scams.

"These include 246 online scams, 209 fake job offers, 186 Macau and phone scams, and 177 investment scams," he said in a statement here.

He added that Johor police have seen an increase in cybercrime cases with 155 cases reported this year compared with only 27 cases last year.

"This includes cases where the owner of bank accounts are seeing money in their accounts reducing without them noticing it at first," he said.

He said that between January and May 27, the amount of losses due to these commercial crimes had reached RM59mil.

"The amount of losses due to such activities has seen a drop of about 63% compared with last year where it was RM159mil.

"Cases involving scams recorded the most number of losses at RM49mil, followed by cybercrimes at RM4.6mil, criminal breach of trust at RM4.3mil and other cases at RM1mil," he said.

He urged the public to be aware of such cases and be equipped with the latest trends involving such crimes to avoid being victims.