PETALING JAYA: From offers of unbelievably cheap durian to job offers with lucrative salaries, online scammers are using new and modified tactics to lure victims into handing over their cash.
With more people going online to do everything including looking for jobs, ordering food, shopping, starting small businesses and finding customers, scammers are redesigning their modus operandi to prey on the unsuspecting.
Last year saw the highest number of e-commerce fraud with victims losing a total of RM74.08mil involving 9,574 cases, a 63.7% hike compared to the year before according to Bukit Aman’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID),
In addition, the first three months of this year saw 2,070 cases of e-commerce fraud reported with RM26.7mil in losses.
The scammers’ shifting tactics make it harder for people to know that they’re getting conned online, with fraudsters now impersonating job recruiters, online sellers, buyers or even “middlemen” to trick job hunters as well as online sellers and buyers.
ALSO READ: Made to work only to be deceived
Some of the tactics employed aren’t even new, but gullible consumers continue to be duped as many scammers operate in well-organised syndicates that target a large number of online users every day.
The following are among the latest tactics used by online scammers to trick Internet users:
…
