KUALA LUMPUR: Most of the 4,355 investment scam cases this year involved schemes advertised on social media sites and messaging apps, says Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf.
The Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director said 82% (3,574 cases) originated from advertisements placed on such sites and programs.
“The top three mediums (for investment scams) are Telegram with 1,506 cases, followed by Facebook (1,068 cases) and WhatsApp (1,000 cases),” he said when contacted yesterday.
In terms of losses suffered by the victims, WhatsApp recorded the highest amount with RM185.2mil in losses, followed by Facebook (RM164.1mil) and Telegram (RM33.8mil), he said.
“Other mediums used for investment scams include websites, Instagram, Google, phone calls, WeChat and in person,” he said.Between January and September, he said some half a billion ringgit in losses were recorded from investment scams.
“All the victims lost about RM548.1mil during this period,” he added.
Comm Ramli said any offers of initial public offering (IPO) shares through social media involving foreign stock exchanges were most probably scams.
“It is only a ruse by scammers to entice people into making big investments to secure so-called huge returns,” he said, adding that these scammers knew how to take advantage of human greed.
Comm Ramli said an IPO must be registered with the Securities Commission (SC).
“Those interested in an IPO offering should verify with the SC before making any investment,” he said.
Comm Ramli said some victims would even question the advice given to them by the police.
“They felt we were not fair to them as they thought that their ‘investments’ were legitimate.
“I have been telling the public that all investment offers on social media are scams – with no exceptions,” he added.
On another matter, Comm Ramli said almost RM2bil had been lost to commercial crime so far this year.
He said 23,447 cases were recorded between Jan 1 and Oct 13 involving RM1.97bil in losses.
“The number of cases saw a 10% reduction compared with the same period last year, which recorded 26,033 cases.
“However, the losses suffered by victims spiked by 23%, where RM1.61bil was recorded last year,” he said.
A total of 11,047 investigation papers (IPs) led to successful prosecutions, representing 47% of the total IPs this year, he said.
“It is an increase of about 5% compared with last year, when 42% of the IPs were prosecuted,” he said.
