SEREMBAN: Seremban ranks second among 157 districts and municipalities in the number of online scams, after George Town, says Negeri Sembilan police chief Datuk Ahmad Dzaffir Mohd Yussof.

“Such high number of online scams is not good for Seremban,” he said during a townhall discussion organized by the Negeri Sembilan police with state tourism and Seremban City Council on Oct. 10.

Negeri Sembilan ranks fifth in the country for online scam cases reported in the last two years.

From 2022 to October 2023, the Negeri Sembilan police received a total of 26,000 reports for various kinds of online scams involving RM300,000.

Ahmad Dzaffir said he had instructed district police chiefs in the state to organize more crime prevention activities to increase public awareness on fraud cases.

The online scams comprise a wide range of cases such as hotel packages, pilgrimage packages, purchase of face masks, gloves, etc.

Even policemen were not spared from being duped for pilgrimage packages, he said.

In the case of pilgrimage packages, he said due to the quota set for pilgrimage trips and the long waiting period, some opted for the cheap packages that allowed pilgrims to cut queue. The victims only found out about the scam when they reached the airport.

Ahmad Dzaffir also said some members of the public were duped by cash rebate schemes providing a link for the victims to key in their bank details.

The money in their bank accounts was transferred out by the scammers after personal details were provided.

As for hotel vouchers, he urged members of the public to be cautious and not to be fooled by the low prices.

For calls from the court or police, Ahmad Dzaffir said the police would never contact members of the public for traffic summonses or illegal transactions through phone.

It was difficult for the police to trace such calls as the syndicates were using voice over internet protocol (VoIP), he said.