Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said of the total, some 48,850 cases, or 68%, involved online fraud.

He said during the same period, a total of 26,213 cases were prosecuted in court.

“We need to pay attention to this large number of cases to ensure that it can be curbed so that members of the public are no longer duped by online crimes.

“Campaigns should be held to spread knowledge on the modus operandi of scammers and provide awareness, especially to corporate companies, senior citizens, civil servants and retirees,” he told reporters after launching the 2022 Royal Malaysia Police Anti-Scam Campaign.

According to him, e-commerce purchase fraud cases recorded an increase from 8,851 cases in 2020 to 9,569 cases last year, while as of May this year, a total of 3,833 cases were recorded.

As for “love scams”, Acryl Sani said there was a decrease with 1,580 cases in 2020 and 1,460 last year, while 361 cases were reported from January to May this year.

“As for ‘Macau Scam’ cases, a total of 2,254 cases were recorded in 2020, which dropped to 1,586 cases in 2021 and increased again to 1,612 cases as of May this year,” he said.

He said the widespread use of the internet among the community and economic sectors since the Covid-19 pandemic had left many vulnerable to scam syndicates.

He said one of the challenges faced by the police was conducting investigations as many were ashamed to lodge a report for fear of being identified as victims of fraud.