KUALA LUMPUR: Bukit Aman’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) recorded a 15.88% increase in arrests for commercial crimes, with 29,479 individuals detained between January and October this year compared with 25,440 in the corresponding period last year.
Its director, Comm Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa, said the number of charges also rose by 52% to 21,342 from 14,041 during the same period last year, following the increase in arrests.
“The number of arrests increased from 25,440 to 29,479, an increase of 4,039 arrests or 15.88%.
“The number of charges also rose from 14,041 to 21,342, representing an increase of 7,301 charges or 52%,” he said at a press conference on Thursday (Nov 12).
He said the increase reflected the department’s continued efforts to strengthen intelligence gathering, arrests, investigations and prosecution.
Meanwhile, losses from the six main categories of online scams fell 28% to RM1.56bil between January and October this year, compared with RM2.16bil in the corresponding period last year, despite a 4% increase in cases.
Comm Rusdi said 56,802 online scam cases were recorded during the period, compared with 54,473 cases last year.
“Although the number of cases increased, total losses for this category declined from RM2.16bil to RM1.56bil, representing a decrease of 28%,” he said.
The sharpest decline was recorded in fake investment schemes, with cases falling 18% to 6,537 from 7,951, while losses dropped 52% to RM600.37mil from RM1.25bil.
Telecommunication crimes also recorded a 16% drop in cases to 19,625 from 23,396, while losses declined 22% to RM480.13mil from RM616.1mil.
However, e-financial crime losses surged 235% to RM280.72mil from RM83.71mil, despite an 8% decrease in cases.
E-commerce scams recorded the highest increase in cases among the six main online scam categories, rising 56% to 17,635 from 11,299 cases.
Overall, 64,951 commercial crime cases were recorded between January and October this year, an increase of 5.55% from 61,538 cases in the corresponding period last year.
Total losses from commercial crimes also rose 30.95% to RM5.25bil from RM4.01bil.
Comm Rusdi advised the public not to trust calls, messages or investment offers from unknown individuals and warned against sharing banking details, passwords, one-time passwords (OTPs) or transaction authorisation codes (TACs).
The public was also urged to check accounts through the police’s Semak Mule portal and contact the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) at 997, as well as lodge a police report, if they suspected they had fallen victim to a scam.
He stressed that the police would not compromise with anyone involved in commercial crimes.
