THOSE between the ages of 31 and 40 were the most gullible to scams, making up the bulk of the 4,435 investment fraud reports, police statistics showed.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) and political parties’ complaints bureaus have backed up the data.

The statistics showed those aged 31 to 40 accounted for 1,099 of investment scams, with those aged 41 to 50 involved in 953 cases and those aged 21 to 30 involved in 835 cases.

Federal Territories DAP public complaints bureau chairman Yew Jia Haur said those in the 31-40 age group were more susceptible because they sought investments.

“They save up quite a sum but even after five to 10 years, the amount wouldn’t be much, so they invest it,” Yew said.

He said these victims could also have been influenced by older relatives who had found success in investments.

Modern technology and online apps have made this group more susceptible to scams, he said.

“They think they can do all their transactions, including investments, online … so they don’t go to financial institutions for advice.

“When they do everything online, there is often no way to detect if the investment or financial institution they are dealing with is genuine.”

He said these victims could be swayed by their friends’ endorsements or social media advertisements, not realising 99% of these schemes are fraudulent.

“These investments are not only from unknown sources, but the trading platforms are based in foreign countries.”

He said it should be a red flag if trading is handled by unlicensed brokers.

The Teratai assemblyman said most online transactions were for non-existent investments, which were made more attractive by brokers advertising slightly higher returns than the average conservative estimates to avoid suspicion.

He said since returns on investments were not too high, scammers pulled a long con.

“That is why victims only realise something is wrong after two or three years.”

However, Yew said he could not understand why the victims were willing to fork over up to RM2 million in companies they had never heard of.

Lee Wen Bin, president of the Malaysian Association for the Prevention of Cybercrime, said most cases his group received involved victims aged 31 to 40.

“They fall for all kinds of ‘investments’ – in oil palm, growing durian and building resorts, as well as investing in stocks and foreign exchange.”

Lee said such scams were still successful even as the government and CSOs constantly advised people to invest in reputable companies.

He said fraudsters were using a new trick to bait victims: using photos of prolific figures to “endorse” their schemes. Many bought into the lie and rushed to invest, he said.

Gerakan Public Service and Complaints Bureau chief Stanlie Woo Cheong Yuen said modern technology was responsible for making people more gullible to scams.

“Now you can accidentally click on any link scammers send and lose all your money in the bank.”

He warned people not to click on any link from an unknown message or answer calls from unknown numbers.

On November 20, the National Police Commercial Crime Bureau superintendent Nam Lee said of the 4,435 cases of investment fraud received, 540 of the investigations were complete and brought to court.

He said 4,051 of the number were online scams while 384 were offline. – December 5, 2023.