Selangor Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief ACP Mohd Sakri Arifin said the wide use of Internet without proper safeguards on the part of the victims, is one of the factors for this worrying trend.

To emphasise his point, Mohd Sakri highlighted a recent e-commerce case where scammers prowling on sale and purchase sites conned their victims into taking fake RM100 notes that were printed on a simple A4 paper.

“The suspects contact the victims on advertising sites such as Mudah.my and Shoppe.my, among others, and offer to buy the iPhones the victims want to sell.

“They arrange the meetings in dark places, pay using the fake money and leave before the victims realise that the money is just papers,” he told a press conference at the Selangor police headquarters here today.

In this particular case, two men and a Thai woman were arrested on Nov 20 in a raid at an apartment in Klang.

Among the things seized at the apartment were 106 pieces of fake RM100 note.

The suspects, aged 26 to 37, are being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for possession of counterfeit notes. If found guilty, they face the possibility of up to 10 years in prison, and a fine.

Mohd Sakri said the public should always be careful when making transactions online, or when dealing with those they have never met in real life.

“Avoid making payments into accounts of any individual whose identity you cannot confirm.

“And while it is much preferable for the public to opt for the cash on delivery method, it is better if they make the exchange in a bright place with CCTV cameras surrounding the area.”

Mohd Sakri said statistics for e-commerce crimes reported this year revealed that out of the 1,137 reported cases, 702 cases, involving a total loss of over RM1.6 million, took place on mudah.my site.

Second on the list was Facebook, with 195 cases and losses amounting to half a million ringgit, followed by WeChat, with 100 reported cases.