KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — With online fraud losses amounting to millions of ringgit in recent years, a local feature film titled OPPA produced in collaboration with the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) on love scam awareness is set to hit the silver screen at the end of this year.

Federal police Bukit Aman’s Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said the film’s release would be timely due to the rise of syndicated scams both in Malaysia and overseas.

"This [film] is one of our methods towards curbing the spread of syndicated scams within the country as it highlights how a typical love scam between a victim and a predator takes place,” he told reporters after the launch of the film’s trailer at KL Wellness City Gallery here.

"It is with the hope that a message could be carried through this film to provide understanding and knowledge to the viewers as what is depicted in the film is representative of the present society. We are confident that the trend will decrease because of our ongoing awareness and advocacy efforts.”

Citing police data, Ramli said as many as 7,548 individuals were recorded to have fallen victim to love scams between 2018 and June 2023, with losses amounting to some RM382.3 million.

Explaining further, Ramli said love scams made use of social media to entice potential victims and cheat them of their money by fraudulent and psychological means after trust between the perpetrators is established over a period of time.

According to film director Denil Choong Lin Loong — who is also known as Captain Denil — the film casts real-life police officers from the CCID in various roles and aims to depict real-life portrayals of the police in action in order to remain as faithful as possible to real-life cases.

Choong said the title was chosen as many scammers use photos of "oppa” and it is also a catchy word that is easy to remember. "Oppa” means "older brother” in Korean, and is sometimes used as a term of endearment.

He said filming took place in several locations in the Klang Valley, including the Sentul police headquarters and Bukit Aman. At the moment, the film is currently in post-production after filming concluded in May.

With a runtime of 90 minutes, the film tells the story of a primary school teacher yearning for love who met her ideal partner in the online world before a series of incidents transformed her life into a nightmare.

The film which will be in English and Malay features a Korean actor called Jang Tae-Oh in the lead role, alongside singer and influencer Jacqueline Goh who is also known as Tien Jac.

This is Dream Film Production’s first commercial feature.