Malaysia – A recent report from the Department of Statistics in Malaysia revealed that online crime cases in the country rose to 35.5% year-on-year, with 34,532 cases reported in 2023, up from 25,479 the previous year.
According to the data, online crime was classified into six categories, including telecommunication crime, e-finance, love scams, e-commerce, non-existent loans, and non-existent investments.
All types of offences reported an increase in 2023, noting e-commerce as the highest contributor, which accounted for 33.2% of these incidents. This was followed by telecommunications crime making up 30%, non-existent investments at 15.6%, non-existent loans at 12.3%, e-finance at 6.1%, and love scams at 2.7%.
Love scam crimes also predominantly involved female victims, who made up 78.2% while male victims were 21.8%. The age group most affected was 41 to 50 years old, reporting 24.3% of these incidents. Interestingly, senior citizens aged 61 years and above experienced a significant portion of these cases at 15.8%.
In addition, Malaysia saw a 32.1% increase in reported commercial crime cases in 2023, totalling 40,350, compared to 30,536 in 2022. All types of offences further showed an increase except for other cases, which declined by 7.9%.
Meanwhile, fraud offences were the most reported crime in 2023, with 36,936 cases, followed by 1,217 cases of criminal breach of trust and 994 offences under the Money Lenders Act 1951.
The crime index, including both assault and property crimes, also increased by 3.2% to 52,444 cases compared to 50,813 in 2022. Assaults, on the other hand, rose by 1.0% to 10,453, while property crimes climbed 3.8% to 41,991 cases, respectively, in 2023.
