RM7.9m lost daily to commercial crimes - police

An average of RM7.9 million has been lost daily through commercial crimes from January to Dec 15, said Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf.

The amount is based on the 30,724 cases recorded during that period, with the total loss amounting to RM2,774,320,430.

"This is equivalent to an average of 88 cases a day. This is almost a three percent drop compared to the same period last year, which saw 31,588 cases recorded.

"The amount of losses recorded, however, increased by 44 percent compared to the RM1,924,424,513 loss last year,” he told a media conference at the CCID Headquarters yesterday.

Ramli said that, so far, a total of 45 percent or 13,721 investigation papers have been successfully charged, which is higher than the figure for the same period last year - 43 percent or 13,450 investigation papers.

Elaborating, Ramli said the drop in commercial crime cases is a positive sign of public awareness and the police will redouble efforts to combat and prevent such cases.

Rise in loan shark cases

In another development, Ramli said cases involving unlicensed money lenders or loan sharks recorded an increase in the past four years, with 977 cases in 2021, 989 cases (2022), 1,162 cases (2023) and 981 cases as of November this year.

He said that, as a result of various operations and raids, police arrested 4,737 individuals for various loan shark-related offences during the four years, namely 1,068 people in 2021, 1,272 people (2022), 1,287 people (2023) and 1,110 people as of November this year.

He said studies showed that a majority of the borrowers knew of the risks involved but still chose loan sharks due to pressing circumstances, in addition to being confident that they could meet all the terms stipulated.

The borrowers, however, would eventually fall victim to threats from the loan sharks and the excessive loan interest before lodging police reports, he added.

"The question is when will this loan shark issue end? Even if we were to launch operations to curb such activities daily, we can't put an end to this issue because there is a demand from the public.

"We have reminded them not to borrow from loan sharks but, if there is no public awareness, we will get nowhere,” he said.

Ramli advised the public not to turn to loan sharks, no matter the hardship.

“Find a safer way like borrowing from legal financial institutions or licensed money lenders,” he added.

- Bernama

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