The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has set up an internal task force to focus on investigations and take enforcement action against individuals involved in financial fraud cases.
Its chairman, Datuk Syed Zaid Albar, said his party had monitored the increase in such cases and had received 370 complaints and inquiries about illegal investment schemes until the end of last month, compared to 317 last year.
He said, such fraud cases often promise returns that are too high or no risk.
Zaid added that the PDRM Commercial Crime Investigation Department has reported Malaysians a loss of RM769 million to 'the scammer' over the past three years.
"The report also details that online fraud crimes are the most prevalent compared to other fraud crimes," he said.
Most surprisingly, he said in the first six months of this year alone, Malaysians lost a total of RM914 million due to being deceived by criminals.
Zaid also informed that lately there has been a crime of firm clone fraud. Criminals will disguise themselves as legally registered entities to convince the public that they are investing with a licensed entity.
In addition, he also stressed that criminals will use social media sites such as WhatsApp and Facebook to promote their schemes.
"Investors who accept investment opportunity offers via WhatsApp or Facebook need to be careful.
I would like to advise investors to first confirm the status of the individual or entity involved with the SC before making any investment in certain schemes, ”he said.
He further explained that his party believes that fraud cases often occur because some investors have unrealistic expectations of return on investment.
"Our survey earlier this year showed that the majority of investors have unrealistic expectations of wanting to get 24% to 30% return per year for their investment.
"Remember if the investment proposal is too good, it is likely to be a scam," he was quoted as saying by The Edge.
