KUALA LUMPUR: Police have cracked down on thousands of mule accounts being misused for online fraud, leading to more than 2,000 arrests in two large-scale operations conducted nationwide.
Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Comm Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa said 1,303 suspects were nabbed during a sting codenamed Ops Mule NSRC, carried out from Sept 22 to 28.
Police also arrested another 820 suspects under Ops Merpati Khas, carried out between Sept 2 and 12.
“In Ops Mule NSRC, Sarawak recorded the highest number of arrests with 272 individuals, followed by Sabah (200), Kuala Lumpur (137) and Selangor (115).
“Under this operation, investigations led to the opening of 778 investigation papers, with 270 cases already charged in court, while another 312 cases remain under probe,” he told a press conference.
Under Ops Merpati Khas, Comm Rusdi said police detained 475 men and 315 women, including four foreign nationals.
“A total of 790 individuals were mule account holders used for e-commerce scams, while 30 others were directly involved in operating scam call centres across several states,” he said.
The operation led to the opening of 660 investigation papers nationwide, involving total losses of RM11.6mil, he added.
“Out of these, 275 cases have been charged, while the rest remain under investigation,” he said.
Comm Rusdi also said the police’s Semak Mule portal – a free online platform that allows the public to check suspicious bank accounts, phone numbers and company names linked to financial scams – has recorded over 37 million visitors since its launch in 2020.
The portal, developed entirely in-house by the department, ensures full data security and user privacy as all source codes remain under police’s ownership.
Check and balance: Semak Mule portal, a free online platform that allows the public to check suspicious bank accounts, has recorded over 37 million visitors since its launch in 2020.
Accessible at https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my, Semak Mule offers a user-friendly and secure interface designed for easy use across various digital devices, including smartphones, tablets, and computers.
Comm Rusdi said between Jan 1 and Oct 26, the portal received 3.8 million visits, reflecting growing public awareness of online transaction safety.
He said the portal now stores 299,531 bank accounts, 233,568 phone numbers and 7,867 companies used by scammers.
“It has become an essential tool in curbing online financial scams and promoting public vigilance against digital fraud,” he added.
He said the portal has also been recognised internationally, with counterparts from Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines and Indonesia also using it as reference.
Since the portal’s inception, some 26.5 million searches have been conducted, of which 2.7 million searches were positive, Comm Rusdi said.
“The most searches were for bank accounts (2.1 million searches), followed by phone numbers (520,371) and companies (5,221),” he added.
On another matter, Comm Rusdi said more than 6,000 scam contents and advertisements have been taken down by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) since 2023, based on applications made by the Police Cyber Response Centre.
A total of 4,557 contents involved loan scams, followed by investment scams (1,073) and purchase and rent of ATM cards (554).
As of September, 3,179 materials have been taken down, Comm Rusdi said.
