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Malaysia warns of rising losses from online scams

Non-existent investment scams consistently recorded the highest losses, amounting to 848.62 million MYR in 2024, rising to 1.46 billion MYR in 2025 and totalling 361.63 million MYR so far this year.

​Kuala Lumpur (VNA) - Malaysia’s Ministry of Home Affairs said on June 24 that nationwide losses caused by online fraud surged from 1.57 billion MYR (392 million USD) in 2024 to 2.97 billion MYR in 2025, with losses already reaching 830 million MYR in the first five months of this year.

The ministry said that non-existent investment scams consistently recorded the highest losses, amounting to 848.62 million MYR in 2024, rising to 1.46 billion MYR in 2025 and totalling 361.63 million MYR so far this year.

In a written parliamentary reply, the ministry said the trend was closely followed by telecommunications scams, which caused losses of 497.12 million MYR in 2024, 802.47 million MYR in 2025, and 235.63 million MYR as of May 2026.

Losses from love scams stood at 45.87 million MYR in 2024, 47.44 million MYR in 2025, and 17.76 million MYR so far this year.

The home ministry reiterated its commitment to combating online crime by strengthening the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC), which operates 24 hours a day and takes swift action to freeze bank accounts and impose transaction restrictions.

Since its establishment in 2022, the NSRC has successfully frozen 32.49 million MYR in scam-related funds, of which 10.9 million MYR has been returned to victims.

For the period of January to May 2026, 7.25 million MYR was frozen, with 3.57 million MYR, or 49%, returned to victims.

The increase in percentage of funds returned shows that the NSRC is becoming more effective as a national scam response centre and gaining greater public trust, the ministry said./.

​

VNA
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