THE promise of quick money and a general lack of awareness are among the factors that make it easy for people to fall prey to online fraud syndicates, experts said.

They said the modus operandi used by the scammers is very simple – the lure of getting easy money, which often captivates students, and youth who have no fixed income.

They added that the victims generally have low self-control, look for easy ways or shortcuts to get money and have a low level of education.

“When offered a salary or a good return, narrow-minded youth with no life experience can quickly be deceived and become victims,” said independent criminologist Shahul Hamid Abd Rahim.

“This not only affects a community but can also destroy the country in the next five or 10 years if not controlled from now,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

He said the young also become easy targets because they tend to be avid social media users and are more exposed to the latest technology than the middle-aged and the elderly.

“Aside from online fraud syndicates, many youngsters are also victims of job syndicates. They are lured on social media and deceived with sweet promises by scammers.

“The weakness we often see among the younger generation is that they are easily deceived or influenced,” said Shahul.

He added that more must be done to create awareness to avoid more people from falling victim to such scams.

“The effective step is through an awareness campaign at the school level in addition to the role of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), which needs to upgrade the country’s cybersecurity system.

“The MCMC must be more sophisticated than the syndicates but it is the opposite now,” he said.

Last week, Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said online scammers were targeting young people, namely students and the youth.

He said the police were working with banking institutions to ensure that investigations, particularly involving the use of mule accounts, could be completed more quickly.

Meanwhile, cybersecurity expert Dr Wee Kim Leng said the public’s awareness of cybercrime was still at a moderate level.

“We see the need to spread as much knowledge as possible to the community so that they can avoid becoming victims of such criminal activities.

“The young easily fall victims to these online fraud syndicates as they often choose to generate income quickly and easily.

“They believe easily in (fake) advertisements and (false) information on social media, which makes them easy victims,” he said.

Wee said the authorities and the public must be up to speed with the scammers to prevent more people from being deceived.

“When cybercriminals come up with various new modus operandi, the authorities, the government and even private entities must join hands to prevent these scammers from conning more people,” he said.

He added that the government needs to start educating people at a younger age on the perils of online scams.

“Students must be given exposure in school through information technology subjects,” he said.

Universiti Sains Malaysia criminologist Dr Geshina Ayu Mat Saat said there are several factors that cause individuals to be easily deceived and become targets for scammers.

“Scammers choose their victims according to the target criteria – those who are easily attracted or deceived by a desire to gain huge profits in a short time.

“The target group of victims is easily ensnared by the scammers’ bait for a number of reasons. This includes the display of power and legitimacy by scammers, and the attractiveness of products or services offered, or returns promised.

“They also fall prey due to extortion, insistence, pressure, irresistible promises and having a relationship (kinship, friendship, acquaintance) with the scammer.

“In addition, our study also shows that victims who are easily deceived have low self-control, look for easy ways or shortcuts and have a low level of education,” she said.

Police said a total of 71,833 scams amounting to more than RM5.2 billion losses was reported from 2020 until May 2022.

From the total amount of scams, 48,850 or 68% were online scams, where 26,213 cases were prosecuted in court.

A total of 5,851 e-commerce scam cases were recorded in 2020 followed by 9,569 cases last year. Up till May this year, 3,833 cases were recorded.

The other types include job scams (350 cases), loan and investment scams (11,875), and love scams. – October 6, 2022.