According to official government statistics, over 51,000 online fraud cases were reported between 2019 and 2021, resulting in losses of a staggering RM1.61 billion.

Selangor alone recorded losses of RM59.6 million as a result of online fraud during the first six months of 2022.

After the launch of the state-level Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) Anti-Scam Campaign on June 29, Selangor police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed said, “Based on our investigation, most (of the RM59.6 million) has been transferred abroad and caused losses to the country’s economy.”

Unfortunately for many, being scammed has led to financial devastation and in some cases resulted in victims being held against their will.

Some popular scams include:

• Job scams – promises of a high-paying job that can lead to kidnapping and forced labour overseas.
• Macau scams – impersonating police/bank officials to coerce victims to transfer funds.
• Mule account scams – paying a small fee to “borrow” someone’s bank account to receive illicit funds.
• Investment/money game scams – promises of higher-than-normal returns but principal and/or returns are never paid out.
• Illegal loans/moneylenders – non-existent or high compound interest loans that lead to larger debts often higher than the original loan amounts.
• Love scams (a.k.a catfishing) – faking a love interest to receive gifts or cash.
• EPF scams – fake offers to assist with the withdrawal of EPF funds early for a fee.
• Prize scams – “winning” a prize but forced to pay a fee before receiving the prize.

Criminologist P Sundramoorthy of Universiti Sains Malaysia, said he was concerned at the innovative tactics used by scammers and their efforts to create more realistic and believable scenarios to entrap victims.

“Despite the availability of information regarding scams online and on social media, the level of susceptibility and gullibility remains high amongst Malaysians who may be selectively choosing to ignore these warnings.”

Other contributing factors he identified as a source of vulnerability were greed and desperation, a result of the mounting financial strains from the pandemic and inflationary pressures on the rising cost of living.

“Victims are also left frustrated with enforcement and loss recovery, both of which are handcuffed by existing laws that should be amended to address the cracks in the system,” he added.

Online purchases contributed to the highest number of complaints with 18,857 cases, followed by non-existent loans at 15,546.

Deputy home minister Jonathan Yasin recently said, “The CCID Scam Response Centre (helpline) 03-2610 1559 was also established to allow the public to obtain information and validate calls for questionable transactions. The helpline is available from 9.00am to 10.00pm daily.”

In fact, similar initiatives by authorities worldwide actively compile information from reports of fraud on a daily basis, and have amassed a large database of phone numbers used by scammers.

Taking this effort one step further, Gogolook, the Taiwanese team behind the Whoscall app, pulls from those databases and also utilises their 100 million users to crowdsource from over 14 billion identified numbers and SMS.

Their proprietary database is now the largest in Asia-Pacific with over 1.6 billion phone number entries including those used by fraudsters.

Prevention is better than cure

Victims are usually exposed to scammers from the first point of contact – an SMS or WhatsApp text message, or a call. Whoscall was developed specifically to act as the first line of defence against this threat.

Users are able to search phone numbers from unsolicited messages and calls against Whoscall’s growing list of potential scam-related numbers and reveal unknown caller IDs using their free app.

Man Yong, Country Marketing Head of Gogolook and Whoscall Malaysia warns, “It is a lot easier for scammers to create random storylines to trick mobile users, as many things are now done online/via phone calls (by posing as LHDN, bank personnel etc).

“Many people still cannot identify between a scam or spam call and fall victim. The first line of defence of not answering the call is suggested. However, some numbers could be important and to avoid any confusion, the Whoscall app can identify and tell you where the number is coming from.”

As harmful numbers are continuously added to their database, users can manually update and also add numbers to the block list, further contributing to a safer community.

For a nominal fee of RM8.90 a month, the Whoscall Premium block list is auto-updated and the auto-spam call blocker is activated. The premium version even includes a Smart SMS feature to detect fraudulent text messages, constantly protecting the user from scammers.

Whether it is simple naivety or lack of knowledge regarding the issues of scams and prevention, awareness has to be improved so Malaysians are made more conscious of the dangers.

Download Whoscall for free on Apple App Store and Google Play Store.