July 24, 2021 5:47 PM
KUALA LUMPUR: Older adults aged 51 and above form the largest age group of victims of Macau scam syndicates due to their lack of exposure to such cases.
Federal Commercial CID director Mohd Kamaruddin Md Din said those aged 51 and above were the prime targets of the syndicates because they were financially stable and had savings for their old age.
He said the findings were from a police analysis of cheating cases in the country.
“It is sad when money to be used for retirement disappears because people become victims of fraud,” he said in a statement today.
Based on police statistics, Kamaruddin said 29.3% or 1,621 individuals of the 5,535 Macau scam victims, reported from 2019 to June this year, were aged 51 and above.
He said victims aged 41 to 50 made up 17.8% of the cases, those aged 31 to 41 formed 25.3%, those from 21 to 30 made up 26.2%, while victims under 20 years old formed 1.5% of the cases.
Kamaruddin added that during the period, 5,527 Macau scam cheating cases were recorded by the department, involving losses totalling RM327,910,835.05.
A total 2,466 cases were recorded in 2019 (with losses of RM121.85 million), 2,247 cases in 2020 (RM172.7 million) while 814 cases were reported from January to June this year (RM33.3 million), he added.
He said communication among family members was crucial to channel information and keep each other alert on such cases as well as the latest cheating methods used by the syndicates.
He said children who were directly exposed to information on social media should inform older family members, including their parents, on the issue.