SEREMBAN: Commercial crimes, including social media and phone scams in Negri Sembilan have increased since the first movement control order came into force with 2,972 cases reported with losses amounting to RM112mil.

       State Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Supt Aibee Ab Ghani said these cases, which included love, Macau and SMS scams, non-existent loans, investment schemes and online purchases, were all reported from March 18, 2020, to June 30, 2021.

       He said comparatively, there were 2,390 such cases reported from March 18, 2018, to June 30, 2019, with losses amounting to RM49.5mil.

       “Although the number of cases increased by almost 25%, the monetary losses were 126% higher,” he said in a statement.

       Supt Aibee said the scams reported since March 18 last year represented 73% of all cases reported to his department.

       These comprised online purchase scams, the highest at 32% of the 2,972 cases, followed by non-existent loans (20%), investment schemes, Macau/SMS scams (8% each) and love scams (5%).

       He said there was an increase in all categories of fraud, except for Macau scams.