THE country recorded a loss ratio of RM2.48 million per day due to investment fraud syndicates over the past three years.
Data revealed that RM103,383 per hour, RM1,722.45 per minute and RM28.72 per second were lost due to fraud.
This ratio is based on overall statistics recorded by the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (JSJK) of the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) for the period from 2023 to July, involving 26,196 cases with losses of RM3.24 billion.
Based on the tactics detected, investment fraud syndicates are not only using artificial intelligence (AI) technology with the images of individuals or famous figures as well as Islamic elements, but have even been identified as having networks with account fraud syndicates.
This is proven by the record of 14,591 arrests and 6,571 charges carried out by the JSJK. Bukit Aman JSJK director, Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa, told Sinar Harian that syndicates usually promote investment schemes that promise high returns in a short period of time with supposedly low or no risk.
According to him, syndicates use social media, messaging applications, websites and online investment groups to attract victims. "The syndicate also displays fake testimonials, fake profits and uses the identities of influential individuals or companies to appear legitimate to increase the victim's confidence.
"The victim is then persuaded to make an initial investment before being asked to make additional payments such as taxes, processing fees or profit activation," he told Sinar Harian at the JSJK office recently.
He revealed that, based on recorded cases, some victims used savings from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), borrowed from friends, financial institutions and others.
He said that some victims invested for months until they finally suffered losses of up to RM3 million before realising they had been deceived.
"Various forms of investment were promised, such as gold, shares, agriculture, land, food and beverage products, bitcoin and others.
"The modus operandi is varied. They use social media and digital platforms by stating high profits, promising 300 per cent profits, being syariah-compliant and fast.
"To gain the victim's trust, the victim's initial investment will be profitable first, before the victim adds more investment money. The syndicate 'fishes' first until the victim ends up losing millions of ringgit," he said.
Rusdi said that even though they have been arrested, JSJK does not rule out the possibility that the syndicate will operate again using a different name, company or platform to avoid detection.
"Based on the arrest of the suspect, they were also detected as providers of mule accounts.
"We monitor social media 24 hours a day by examining certain indicators before informing the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for sanctions," he said.
He added that online crimes last year recorded losses of approximately RM2.9 billion and these non-existent investments contributed to the loss of RM1.5 billion. "This case is very worrying because some victims withdrew capital of up to more than a million ringgit but ended up with only RM300 left in their accounts," he said.
According to him, syndicates that use fake AI-generated videos or pictures of famous individuals will influence victims to participate in the investment.
Rusdi said that private sector workers recorded the highest number of victims, with 13,241, representing more than half of the total victims recorded.
“This is followed by retirees, unemployed individuals, civil servants and businessmen.
“In addition, based on statistical analysis by gender, it shows that male victims recorded a higher number, namely 15,021 compared to 11,175 women,” he said. – September 7, 2026
