ONLINE scams have been on the rise of late, with millions of ringgit in losses, National Anti-Financial Crime Centre director-general Mustafar Ali said.

He said records show more than 25,000 online cheating cases were recorded last year alone, with losses of approximately RM850 million.

Mustafar said catalysts for online criminal activities are mule accounts.

“One factor letting scam syndicates milk money from their victims is mule accounts ‘bought’ at RM500 per account from original account holders to transfer ill-gotten gains.

“A victim’s money that has been defrauded will be put into a mule account and transferred to several others before finally being withdrawn in a short period of time, making it difficult to track,” he told Bernama recently.

Account mules are people who surrender their bank cards and access information to others for criminal use.

Mustafar said the surge in cases was driven by the use of technology and social media in perpetuating scams as well as leaking user information.

Commenting on fraud conducted via social media, he said scammers would contact victims through various apps by impersonating authorities or their acquaintances.

Scammers’ latest tactic is to send links disguised as a bank’s website, or ask the victim to download an app to use a certain service.

“The victim will then be asked to disclose personal information including banking details, allowing the scammer to hack into the victim’s account and siphon off their money,” he said.

Mustafar said online fraud is closely linked to victims’ backgrounds, such as how Macau Scam perpetrators target those with large savings. 

“Criminals use various tricks to get banking information from victims and the situation becomes even more complicated when the victims are slow to realise their money has disappeared,” he said.

He said enforcement agencies’ analysis showed fraud syndicates used phone numbers that were illegally obtained from unscrupulous parties selling users’ personal information.

He said the government is moving to combat online crime, including by enhancing cooperation with international authorities to ensure further action can be taken against criminals who operate abroad.

“Such scams need to be dealt with jointly by all parties, including victims. Awareness campaigns should be conducted from school to university levels with specific programmes to educate people to avoid falling prey to scammers,” he said.

Mustafar said the government intends to strengthen the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC). 

“Given that the NSRC operations pool manpower and expertise from various agencies, including from the banking and telecommunications (sectors), an effective integrated enforcement action can be implemented.

“Among actions that can be taken is seizure or restriction of the flow of proceeds of online crime,” he said.

He said the government is seriously examining legal provisions to let victims regain their funds lost to fraud.

Among the provisions being examined are the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, the penal code and the Criminal Procedure Code. 

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim when presenting Budget 2023 announced an allocation of RM10 million in operating grants for the NSRC to strengthen its role. – Bernama, April 23, 2023.