THE number of people in Sibu falling prey to Macau scams has remained high with 26 cases reported last year, involving losses of over RM2.7mil.
Losses in 2020 from 38 cases amounted to RM2.5mil.
Sibu district acting police chief Supt Dr Collin Babat, in a statement, said of the total number of cases in the last two years, 41 were successfully brought to court while another 23 were still under investigation.
“This achievement by the Commercial Crime Investigation Division is the best among all district police stations in the state,” he added.
He explained that investigations into commercial crimes typically involved going through bank accounts, phone numbers and social media accounts.
“For bank accounts, the police need to follow certain procedures to obtain the account holder’s information.”
Supt Collin said the police could not act arbitrarily and should be given space to carry out their duties transparently based on existing legal provisions.
He was responding to recent comments by Dudong assemblyman Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing, who questioned Sibu police’s slow response to Macau scam cases that had been reported in the district.
Supt Collin said the police was also making efforts to raise public awareness of the latest modus operandi of such fraudsters by organising talks at government departments, schools and places of worship.
“The media, including social media…