Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Comm Mortadza Nazarene said over 1,500 cases were reported last year, involving losses amounting to a whopping RM199 million.
The New Straits Times quoted Mortadza saying the statistics were provided by Interpol.
“The number of love scams reported last year was 1,521, higher than the number recorded in 2014.
“The amount of losses incurred have also skyrocketed from RM52 million to RM199 million,” he told a press conference.
According to him, among those who had fallen victim to such scams were single mothers, lonely women and working professionals.
“Some local women are also accomplices of the syndicate members.”
Mortadza also revealed that the losses incurred in commercial crimes last year was a staggering RM2.4 billion, with 1.6 billion lost in cheating – an increase of 95.1 per cent from the figure recorded the year before.
He added that some 7,019 people were nabbed last year for committing commercial crimes, of which 1,203 were foreigners.
To tackle this problem, the department has formulated plans to strengthen enforcement on cyber crimes, and is collaborating with related agencies both locally and internationally, he said.