Bukit Aman commercial crime investigation department (CCID) director Ramli Yoosuf said these scams saw fraudsters impersonating friends or acquaintances who contacted their victims through platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook.

“Investigations revealed that these syndicates hacked into their victims’ Telegram or WhatsApp accounts and contacted the victims’ friends on the said platform to borrow money,” he said in a statement.

Ramli said that from Jan 1 to 20 this year, 50 such cases have been reported, with losses amounting to RM238,732.

According to him, the actual account owners only became aware of the situation when they could not access or receive calls from their contacts regarding the authenticity of a loan request.

He advised people to be cautious and avoid trusting messages asking to borrow money, and to verify with their acquaintances for confirmation.

Meanwhile, a housewife in Negeri Sembilan lost almost RM1.5 million after falling victim to a phone scam, when she was called by a man posing as a police officer.

Seremban police chief Hatta Che Din said the “police officer” claimed that the victim had committed a crime and instructed her to make payments to several bank accounts.