KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17: The home ministry has recorded a spike in online scams since the movement control order (MCO) was implemented on March 18, including love scams and Macau scams.
Deputy Home Minister Ismail Mohamed Said said other scams included personal loan scams, e-dagang and scams through text messages.
He told the Dewan Rakyat that 1,100 Macau scams involving RM50 million were recorded, as well as 481 love scams involving RM18 million.
E-dagang scams comprised the highest number of cases at 2,500 involving RM17 million, while for online loans, 1,582 scams were recorded with losses of RM18 million.
The home ministry also recorded 191 scams through text messages with losses of RM800,000.
Ismail was responding to Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (PH-Baling) who asked about the number of financial scam syndicates active during the MCO period.
He also asked about the ministry’s measures to stop further action by these syndicates.
Ismail said the police had been increasing enforcement operations and would continue to charge people in court.
“The police are also working with other agencies, NGOs and school students to create awareness,” he said.
To Mahfuz Omar (PH-Pokok Sena) who asked about the protection of identities under the MySejahtera app, he said action would be taken against those found misusing the data.
