'Fewer men are falling for love scams because they are married' - Police

KUALA LUMPUR - Police said that fewer men are falling victim to love scams because they are usually married.

“Based on the statistics over the past five years, women made up a majority of the 7,548 love scam victims. Only 1,297 or 17 per cent of men fell into the love scam syndicate,” Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said today.

Ramli said that the love scam syndicate usually targets single women or single parents, but the men are rarely single and usually have families.

“That is why we suspect that fewer men are reporting or coming forward as victims,” he said.

On a separate matter, Ramli said that the police had only received 14 reports related to the syndicate of the e-Tunai Belia Rahmad aid programme after some recipients attempted to cash out the RM200 credit they had received.

“The police received 14 reports related to the syndicate and it involved 16 cases with a loss value of RM2,800,” he said.

Ramli attributed the low number of reports to the media’s awareness campaign about the scam.

“I would like to attribute the media for bringing awareness towards this issue and the reported cases have been stopped as people are aware before being a victim,” he said.

For now, there are no suspects but the police are still monitoring the case.

Commenting further about the development of the email fraud case (business email compromise) involving money amounting to RM28.3 million, Ramli said that the police have advised companies to verify all transactions before making payments.

“Do check all the transactions and do not trust any party that asks to make a payment online,” he advised.

“In these modern days, we have to be skeptical and with Artificial Intelligence (AI) it becomes harder to believe, so never believe what’s on screen and for any payment, always verify with the companies before making one,” he said.

He added the police managed to intercept and block money amounting to RM28.3 million from being transferred to a bank account abroad.