Cybercrimes: Parcel scams incur biggest loss

Among all the cyber and multimedia crimes conducted in Malaysia, parcel scams seemed to be the most popular choice for perpetrators throughout 2012.

That year, although there were only 4,902 cases of cyber and multimedia crimes reported to police, the losses incurred were a whopping RM98.6 million.

In 2011, there were 6,586 such cases reported but losses incurred amounted to RM80.5 million.

From January to September this year, a total of 3,832 cases have been recorded by police involving some RM56.2 million.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (Cyber and Multimedia Crime Unit) assistant director, Supt Ahmad Noordin Ismail said despite being constantly reminded to be more aware of cyber scams, the public’s vulnerability and gullibility seemed to be continuously compromised.

“Based on the statistics, sometimes a drop in the number of cases does not necessarily reflect a decline in losses,” he told Astro Awani at his office in Bukit Perdana.

“For example, in 2012, there were 814 reported cases of parcel scams, also referred to as ‘African scam’, which incurred a loss of RM33.6 million. It was the ‘top scam of the year’ popularly used by fraud syndicates.”

Ahmad Noordin explained, parcel scam happens when a syndicate member, usually from an African country, takes advantage of a victim’s sympathy.

They target vulnerable women such as the elderly, single mothers or women who are lonely.

“The victim is persuaded to ‘claim’ a parcel on behalf of the ‘distressed’ scammer, who would first befriend the victim over social networking sites, and then get them to pay for some so-called administrative charges,” he said.

But after the money has been transferred to the given bank accounts, the scammers vanish and the parcel cannot be traced.

“The scam incurred huge losses of money because the victims spend a big amount, at least RM5,000 for each payment. It is only after several payments that the victims would realise that they have been duped,” Ahmad Noordin said.

Although there have been many scam tactics exposed by police, Malaysians somehow are still falling prey to these syndicates.

“It shows that Malaysians simply take things for granted. It should be noted that when a particular offer sounds too good to be true, be in via phone calls or emails, then it usually is,” he said.

Other scam tactics involving cyberspace and multimedia identified by police include SMS and email scams, online transaction frauds, Internet banking (phishing) and ‘spoofing’ – an impersonation scam via telephone.

Police urge those who received any dubious SMS, emails, phone calls or offers which they believe could victimise them, to contact the police.

“We hope the public will be more aware of these scams to prevent them from being a victim,” Ahmad Noordin added.