A total of 87 fraud cases related to the sale of face masks have been recorded in the capital involving losses of RM2.5 million since January.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Seri Mazlan Lazim said throughout that period, the police made 41 arrests and 24 of them were charged in court.

“One of the reasons for these rampant scams involving the item is because it is in high demand following the COVID-19 outbreak,” he said in a statement, today.

He advised the public to be vigilant, and not be deceived by advertisements and offers of face masks on social media as well as on online shopping sites.

“Checks can be made on the validity of sellers’ bank accounts at a href="http://ccid.rmp.gov.my/semakmule/"http://ccid.rmp.gov.my/semakmule//a and online sellers’ status at a href="http://biztrust.ssm.com.my"http://biztrust.ssm.com.my/a before making any transactions,” he said.

-- BERNAMA