Promises that cost lives: Inside Sarawak’s rising online scam epidemic

IN her final months, the woman kept hoping that he would come.

She believed in his messages, and she believed that he was honest; hence, her not questioning him when he frequently asked for money.

She also believed that all his delays were because of immigration issues, of work problems, and of illnesses.

Even when her own health began to deteriorate, her belief never did.

The woman passed away recently, still with the belief that the man truly wanted to see her, but could not because of his circumstances.

No police report was ever made; thus, she could not be counted as a scam victim.

Indeed, she was one, and she was not alone as there are other similar stories.

They are real, but not all were reported – and most likely, the true number goes far beyond what anyone can guess.

Several individuals met by the writer want to share their stories for this article, on condition of anonymity.

‘Not a good rising trend’

According to official statistics by Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) Sarawak, online scam cases in Sarawak have increased significantly over the past two years.

Last year, a total of 1,888 cases were recorded; between January and October this year, the number rose to 2,295.

Financial losses followed the same pattern, rising from RM78.41 million last year to RM85.45 million in the first 10 months of this year.

CCID Sarawak recorded eight scam categories: love scams, phishing, online purchase fraud, phone scams, impersonation, investment scams, bogus loans, and fake job offers.

Most categories showed year-on-year increase: bogus loans rose from 320 cases last year to 470 cases as at October this year; investment scams from 292 to 412; phone scams from 235 to 286; fake job offers from 211 to 293; online purchase fraud from 624 to 535.

Amidst this rising trend, the numbers only represent the reported cases.

‘Promises unfulfilled’

‘Jane’ (not her real name), a retiree, shared the story about her cousin, a pensioner in her late 70s.

Jane’s cousin had been living alone as her children were all grown up and busy with their own lives.

Her husband had passed away several years earlier.

“My cousin met a man via Facebook, who claimed to be a contractor from England working on a development project in Kuala Lumpur.

“They communicated regularly for nearly a year.

“My cousin even showed me photos of the man, and parts of their conversations.

“I believe that those photos were not of him – it could be a case of stolen identity.”

Jane said the man had promised to visit several times, but he would break his word at the last minute, giving excuses such as illness, immigration problems, a frozen bank account, or project delays.

“He frequently asked my cousin for money to settle these issues, assuring her that he would repay all of it.

“I’m not so sure how much my cousin had transferred, but I’d estimate it to be not less than RM15,000.

“To help him, she pawned her gold jewellery and withdrew savings from her trust fund account.”

Jane said even when her health declined, her cousin’s belief never faded.

“She died, still believing that the ‘contractor from England’ would come to Kuching,” Jane lamented.

“She never got to see his real face – only messages, promises and hope.”

‘Saved by father’s hesitation’

A woman, in her 40s, shared the experience of her elder sister who met a man on Instagram.

What began as casual messaging later developed into a long-distance connection.

The man, claiming to be an engineer from England, insisted on using Skype as the only platform for calls.

For six months, they communicated almost every day and discussed the possibility of meeting up.

He then suggested a rendezvous in Kuala Lumpur.

“My sister purchased the flight ticket, and waited for his arrival.

“On the morning that he was supposed to travel, he claimed to be facing immigration issues and asked if she could send him money.

“She informed our father, who suspected it to be a scam.

“She did not send any money.”

According to CCID statistics, love scam cases in Sarawak had increased from 48 last year to 52 this year to date, while financial losses rose from RM1.28 million to RM3.06 million.

Victims aged 45 and above remained among the most vulnerable groups.

‘Fear as a weapon’

A woman shared the experience of her niece, which occurred several years ago.

It began with a phone call.

Her niece, in her early 20s and had just entered the workforce, received a call from someone claiming to be a PosLaju officer.

The caller said a suspicious parcel had arrived under her name, containing identity cards and credit cards wrapped in T-shirts.

She was told that it was a serious offence, and she would be reported to the police.

Soon after, another caller claiming to be a police sergeant warned that her bank accounts would be frozen.

He advised her to transfer her savings into an account for investigation purposes.

Out of fear, the young woman transferred RM14,000 without telling her family.

The caller repeatedly instructed her not to inform anyone, claiming that it would ‘affect the investigation’.

He even made a video call and asked her to show valuables around her house.

Overwhelmed, the young woman eventually confided in her family, and a police report was later lodged.

‘A familiar voice who is not a friend’

‘Lily’ (not her real name), a self-employed woman in her 40s, still keeps the scammer’s phone number and chat history as her personal reminder.

Three years ago, she received a call from someone claiming to be her friend Jennifer, using a new number.

The caller said her handbag had been stolen, along with her phone and cards, and thus, she was using a temporary mobile number.

Lily recognised the voice as Jennifer’s, and making it more believable and genuine was their conversation had included personal details that only both of them would know.

“Soon, this ‘Jennifer’ asked to borrow RM3,000 to pay for furniture while waiting for her credit card to be replaced.

“Trusting her, I transferred the money.

“Shortly after, another request came – this time, ‘Jennifer’ was asking for RM7,000.”

That made Lily hesitant, and she decided to speak to a mutual friend before sending anything to ‘Jennifer’.

“That mutual friend then contacted the real Jennifer, whose original number was still active.

“The real Jennifer was shocked; she never lost her handbag, had never changed her number, and had never asked anyone for money.”

It was only then did Lily realise that she had been deceived.

“When I confronted the scammer (via phone), she laughed and immediately blocked my number.

“I did not file a police report because I felt ashamed and foolish, and I did not want my husband to know.”

As mentioned earlier, Lily still keeps the scammer’s phone details as a reminder of the ‘cost of blind trust’.

Based on CCID statistics, phone scams stand as the fourth most common scam category in Sarawak.

Working age adults are the most affected, especially those aged 25 to 34.

Both men and women are affected almost equally.

‘Friendship becoming transaction’

‘Siti’ (not her real name), a woman in her 50s, believed that she had formed a special connection with someone whom she met online.

There was no romance, but there was trust, emotions and hope.

It began on July 9, 2023, when a man contacted her via Instagram, claiming to be a singer from the US.

Their conversations started off casually, with them discussing daily life and work.

Then, small requests began to appear.

The ‘singer’ asked her to pay for a package stuck in Türkiye, intended for delivery to Malaysia.

Siti did not act on this at all.

Later, he suggested investing in Bitcoin, promising profitable returns if she could transfer to him RM1,000.

This time, Siti agreed.

“As time passed, his requests changed.

“He began claiming to be seriously ill, mentioning kidney problems, serious heart conditions and losing appetite.

“He could never explain any of his sickness properly.

“I failed to understand how one person could be sick in so many ways, all at the same time,” she said.

The ‘singer’ also claimed to be from a broken family, not being close at all with any of his siblings.

This tugged at Siti’s heartstrings.

“Later, he would say that he had been arrested in India, then in Japan, and asked for money to be released from jail.”

Siti said every request came with urgency, and every urgency ended with a bank transfer.

When Siti asked about the returns from her Bitcoin investment, he merely replied: “The economy is not good; there’s no profit.”

In total, Siti estimated that she had sent over US$20,000 (more than RM90,000) to the man, whose real face she never saw, as they had been communicating only via calls.

She also noted that he ‘did not sound American at all’, despite his claims of having been born and raised in the US.

“I began to suspect something was wrong when his illness stories continued and more requests for money followed.

“Even today, he still attempts to contact me through different platforms, but I have blocked him completely,” said Siti.

In the CCID statistics, investment scams recorded the highest financial losses in Sarawak reaching RM51.31 million in the first 10 months of this year – up from RM44.10 million reported in the whole of the previous year.

‘Two victims, one scammer’

Two women were unknowingly played by the same man.

‘Miss A’ met a man on Instagram who claimed to be a Chinese businessman living in the UK.

He later suggested moving their chats to Skype, saying that it would be easier and more convenient.

He made video-calls to her several times, appearing to be genuine.

Weeks later, Miss A confided in a close friend, ‘Miss B’, and was shocked when she found out that they had been communicating with the same man, who was using the same identity.

After researching online, both women discovered that the images actually belonged to one ‘John Lee’, a real entrepreneur and speaker from England.

It is learnt the real Mr Lee’s identity was stolen, and has since been used by a scammer to manipulate many women.

Miss A and Miss B felt really fortunate and relieved upon finding out the truth before any money was transferred.

Still, their experience led them to wonder – why did the scammer insist on communicating via Skype?

It turned out that Skype offered features that scammers found advantageous – it could support video calls and work smoothly across both computers and phones.

Via Skype, the scammers could briefly activate their camera using pre-recorded or deep-fake clips, tricking victims into believing that they were speaking to a real person.

Skype also supported virtual camera software, which allowed fake visuals, artificial intelligence (AI)-generated faces, or stolen videos made to appear as live feeds.

Since Skype required only an email address and not an actual phone number, multiple accounts could be created easily.

Created in 2003, Skype has since remained popular among older or less tech-savvy users, particularly for international calls.

However, effective May 5 this year, Skype was officially retired and replaced by Microsoft Teams (free version) – marking the end of one of the most exploited platforms used in online scams.

Scams in Sarawak

According to the CCID, the five most frequently-occurring scam categories in Sarawak are those involving online purchases, fake loans, bogus investment, deception via phone, and fake job offers.

Altogether, these five recorded total cases of 1,347 last year.

From January to October this year, 1,996 cases were reported, representing an overall increase of 48.18 per cent.

Police statistics show that scam victims come from all backgrounds, but certain groups have been consistently more affected than others.

Last year, there were 921 male victims and 968 female victims; year-to-date data showed the rise to 1,167 male victims, and 1,221 female victims.

Working-age adults were regarded as the most vulnerable group.

Last year, 583 victims were in the 25-34 age group, and 435 in the 35-44 group; the latest numbers this year reported 648 cases involving the former group, and 522, involving the latter group.

Cases involving senior citizens also grew – cases involving those aged 55 and above increased from 264 last year, to 371 this year to date.

Preventive measures

There are several ongoing measures to combat online scams.

These include the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) 997 hotline, the CCID 24-hour hotline 011-6289 0089, the Whoscall application, the ‘Semak Mule’ verification system, as well as regular scam alerts posted on CCID’s official ‘Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah Komersil – JSJK PDRM’ page on Facebook, or the ‘Cyber Crime Alert Royal Malaysia Police’.

The NSRC 997 is a nationwide platform involving multiple agencies, including the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre, Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), as well as financial institutions and the telecommunications industry.

Operating 24 hours, the 997 hotline facilitates the provision of real-time assistance and also swift action to block fund transfers once a report is made.

Whoscall Malaysia is a free anti-scam application that can help users identify and block fraudulent calls and SMS texts.

Developed in collaboration with Malaysian authorities including the PDRM and Pos Malaysia, Whoscall is available for free – downloadable via Apple App Store and Google Play.

Semak Mule is another free tool provided by PDRM’s CCID. It allows the public to check whether a bank account, phone number, or a company’s name has been linked to any financial scam case.

Beyond technology-based efforts, the CCID also conducts community talks, high-profile policing, and meet-and-greet programmes in both urban and rural areas.

These initiatives extend to schools, places of worship, villages, and neighbourhoods, focusing on public education and raising awareness of the dangers of these scams and how they typically operate.