KOTA KINABALU, Oct 28 — The Sabah state government is committed to fighting cyber crime together with the federal government and related agencies, especially financial crime and scams that have risen drastically in the state.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the total of cyber crime in Sabah rose in the past three years based on statistics from the Sabah police headquarters commercial crimes investigation department.

From 2020 to September 2023, 4,687 cases were reported, including phone scams, love scams, non-existent loans, investments and online purchases, causing RM100,087,125.10 in losses from 2020 to September 2023, he said.

"From that total, 1,069 cases were reported in 2020, 1,169 cases in 2021, 1,206 cases in 2022 and 1,243 from January till September this year.

"The highest number of cass involved online purchase scams, with 1,823 cases, followed by phone scam (1,122 cases); non-existent loans (817 cases); investment (603 cases), love scams (cases) and offences under the computer crimes act, 164 caes,” he said in a speech read by Sabah Deputy Minister III Datuk Shahelmey Yahya at the state-level 2023 National Anti-Scam Tour programme at Universiti Malaysia Sabah here today, in the presence of Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil.

Hajiji noted that cyber crimes in Sabah caused losses of RM24,885,763.50 in 2020, RM25,427,844.42 in 2021 and RM21,749,610.61 in 2022, while losses of RM28,023,906 were recorded from January to September this year.

"This number is worrying. Therefore, I urge Sabahans, especially Internet users to come forward and report scams and online fraud that they suffered.

"Lodging reports are important to help the authorities analyse criminal trends, including scammers, and to set up adequate preventive measures to protect the public from becoming victims,” he said.

The 2023 National Anti-Scam Tour is a programme jointly organised by CyberSecurity Malaysia and CelcomDigi with the cooperation of the Anti-Scam Action Coalition with the support of the Communications and Digital Ministry to provide awareness to the public on the types of scams, the latest modus operandi and the best tips on how to avoid falling victim to such crime.

Sabah is the fourth state on the tour, following Selangor/Kuala Lumpur, Perlis and Sarawak, and the tour will be held in Kelantan and Johor before wrapping up in Putrajaya. — Bernama