Tawau is vulnerable due to proximity
Published on: Wednesday, March 13, 2019
By: Lagatah Toyos
TAWAU: An awareness talk on cybercrime prevention and anti-trafficking was held here in view of the relatively high number of cybercrime and human trafficking cases compared to other districts in Sabah.
Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Deputy Secretary-General (Policy) Shakib Ahmad Shakir said the location of Tawau, which is close to Indonesia and the Philippines, contributed to the occurrence of such cases.
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“This is based on the frequency of cases recorded in the border areas by the National Security Council,” he told a media conference after officiating the talk organised by the Ministry at the Tawau Library, here.
He said the Criminal Investigation Department Record in 2017 reported 10,203 fraud cases involving cybercrime and up to October 2018 a total of 8,313 similar cases were detailed.
He said four of the highest cases recorded involved telecommunication fraud (including Macau Scam), non-existent loans, 419 Scam and fraud related to online purchases.
He said a total of 3,816 fraud calls (telecommunication fraud) were recorded last year involving a total of RM162.7 million collected compared to 2,912 cases in 2017 involving RM65.5 million.
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This showed an increase by 904 cases or 31.04 per cent and within the same period, the total collections also increased by RM92.7 million (148.4 per cent).
“For non-existent loans (e-Financial Fraud) a total of 286 cases were recorded last year compared to 513 cases in 2017, showing a decrease by 227 cases but a rise in terms of collection with a total of RM5.1 million (15.8 per cent).
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“Last year recorded collection of RM37.3 million compared to RM32.3 million in 2017,” he said.
Shakib said for the 419 Scam (African Scam) a total of 1,398 cases were reported last year involving collection of RM80.1 million, while a collection of RM67.2 million and 1,774 cases were recorded in 2017.
He said although analyses showed a reduction in the number of cases by 376, but there was a hike in terms of collection with RM12.9 million (19.2 per cent).
For fraud involving online purchases (e-Commerce) a total of 2,191 cases (44 per cent) were recorded and in 2017 there was a decrease in cases from 5,004 to 2,813 last year.
He said there was a slight increase in terms of collection within that period of an estimated RM300,000 and in 2018 a total of RM19.6 million collection were recorded compared to RM19.3 million in 2017.
Towards this end, he said the Ministry is committed in eradicating cybercrimes especially in view of the growing number of cybercrime involving online fraud, credit card fraud, identity theft and data intrusion.
During the cybercrime prevention campaign, three campaign terms have been agreed upon and used namely cybercrime, fraud calls and love scam, in addition to two hashtags used as a reminder namely #ScamAlert and #Jangan Terperdaya.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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