Over RM93 million lost to investment scams, 672 police reports made

Between January and July 15 this year, 672 police reports related to investment scam syndicates were made involving over RM93 million in losses, said Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department acting director, Datuk Saiful Azly Kamaruddin.

He said 467 cases are related to online investment scams and the rest were face-to-face fraud.

"Online investment losses amounted to over RM52 million with victims typically contacted via Facebook, WeChat and WhatsApp by cryptocurrency, binary option and forex traders.

"Most syndicates offered packages promising up to 13 times return on investment in one or two days. The victim would (first) be asked to deposit money in a personal or company account," said Saiful Azly during a special media briefing.

The syndicate would provide proof of profit for a trading platform to instil confidence and the victim then asked to make another payment to receive the profit, he said.

He said 13 online investment scams have been identified so far "including i-Rakyat Trade, IQ Option, Global Investment, Wei Jian Zhi, Olymp Trade, AA Anthony, Global Trader, People Global Network, Rakuten Trade, Wine Exchange China, GWFX Global, Private Investment Trade Dubai and London Stock Exchange".

-- BERNAMA