Johor police chief calls for scam response centre in JB

JOHOR BARU: Johor police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat wants a scam response centre set up in the state to combat scams more effectively.

“Currently, the national scam response centre is set up in the capital city and I hope that a similar centre can be set up in Johor at the state police headquarters,” he said.

“This way, those in Johor who need help can seek help directly and we will have access to the information too.

“If the operating hours are an issue, they can use the IPK (Johor police headquarters) as we are on standby 24 hours a day,” he said during the Threat of Scammers in Current Times town hall session with teachers at Bank Simpanan Nasional here yesterday.

The National Scam Response Centre collaborates with the police, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre and financial institutions.

The public can call the centre’s hotline at 997 if they fear falling victim to a scam or head to the nearest police station.

He also said that teachers are among the most common victims of online scams, which have resulted in over RM4.24mil in losses so far this year.

He said 117 teachers reported getting scammed from January to September this year.

“Scammers usually do not target a certain group of people as they randomly pick their potential victims.

“However, Johor has a large number of teachers – more than 50,000 – so the probability of scammers preying on teachers is higher,” he said.

Teachers were part of the total of 388 scammed civil servants, involving a value of RM10.02mil, he said.

“In terms of value, the amount recorded in the first nine months of the year was higher than the value of RM3.41mil recorded in the same period last year.

“According to police investigations, most fraud occurred via mobile phone calls or text messages,” said Kamarul Zaman.

“This is why we are prioritising educators. We hope to engage with the public and departments, such as the Education Department, about prevention and ways of identifying scam calls,” he said, adding that about 250 teachers statewide attended the town hall session.

He also urged the public to be in tune with the news and look for the latest scam trends to avoid falling into the trap.