IPOH: A total of 3,150 teachers fell prey to online scams from 2021 to April this year, according to police statistics.

Datuk Abdul Muie Ngah, director of Day School Management Division of the Ministry of Education, said 2,418 teachers were victims of Internet frauds, 257 in financial frauds and 457 in investment frauds.

Expressing his worry over the high number of victimised teachers, Abdul Muie said teachers had to be vigilant in detecting scams, he said during an anti-scam talk jointly organised by the Ministry of Education and the Royal Malaysia Police for teachers at SMJK Yuk Choy on Wednesday.

The talk, the sixth session in Perak, was organised as a preventive measure to remind teachers not to get duped by scammers.

Teachers constitute one of the largest groups of scam victims in Malaysia, and the division is hoping to conduct internal training for teachers later to prevent them from falling prey to scams, Abdul Muie said.

The two-day talk was attended by 1,600 people in Perak, including headmasters.

Yayasan Guru Malaysia Bhd (YGMB), a foundation for teachers in Malaysia, said 1,400 teachers became fraud victims in the past 12 months.

YGMB chief executive officer Datuk Wan Munadi Wan Mamat said on average more than three teachers became fraud victims in a day, and the sum involved was closed to RM40 million.

The number of fraud cases involving teachers this year remained the same as in 2021 without showing signs of declining, he said.