KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 — The number of online crime cases reported to the police last year rose by 35.5 per cent to 34,532 compared with 25,479 the previous year.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said there was an increase in all six online crime categories, namely telecommunications crime, e-finance, love scam, e-commerce, non-existent loan and non-existent investment, with e-commerce crimes recording the highest increase at 33.2 per cent.

“This is followed by telecommunications crimes (30 per cent), non-existent investments (15.6 per cent), non-existent loans (12.3 per cent), e-finance (6.1 per cent) and love scams (2.7 per cent),” it said in a statement yesterday.

It added that during the same period, women made up the highest number of love scam victims at 78.2 per cent, with those aged between 41 and 50 the most susceptible at 24.3 per cent.

Even the elderly, those aged 61 and above, fell victims, with 15.8 per cent of the cases involving them.

It said that commercial crimes also went up by 32.1 per cent last year to 40,350 cases, compared with 30,536 cases in 2022.

“Cheating offences were the highest cases recorded, with 36,936 cases, followed by breach of trust crimes (1,217 cases) and offences under the Moneylenders Act 1951 (994 cases),” it said.

The crime index, comprising assault and property crimes, increased by 3.2 per cent last year to 52,444 cases compared with 50,813 cases the previous year, with the crime ratio for every 100,000 people rising to 149 compared to 146 in 2022.

“The crime index ratio for five states exceeded the national average of 149, with Kuala Lumpur recording 221, Selangor (196), Kedah (193), Penang (193) and Negeri Sembilan (159). Sabah, meanwhile, had the lowest crime index ratio of 95, followed by Kelantan (96) and Terengganu (100),” the statement added.

As for drug cases, the number of addicts detained by the National Anti-Drug Agency increased by 2.8 per cent to 24,186 people compared to 23,517 in 2022, with the composition of addicts according to gender remaining the same, with 95.7 per cent males and 4.3 per cent females.

As for corruption cases, the number of investigation papers opened by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) rose by 25.1 per cent last year to 1,026 cases compared with 820 cases in 2022.

“The number of investigation papers for all offences increased last year except for bribery, which dropped by 25.3 per cent to 59 cases from 79 in 2022.

“The MACC also made 25.1 per cent more arrests last year, with 1,137 compared with 909 arrests in 2022. There were also more arrests made for all types of offences, except for bribery which dropped 6.5 per cent to 86 cases compared with 92 in 2022,” it said.

The number of children’s sexual crime cases increased by 26.5 per cent to 1,567 in 2023 compared with 1,239 in 2022.

“Child pornography offences increased the most by 139.3 per cent, followed by child grooming (100 per cent) and non-physical sexual assault (97 per cent).

The number of traffic summonses issued by the police dropped 12.3 per cent to 4.6 million in 2023 compared with 5.3 million in 2022.

The statement added that the Crime Statistics, Malaysia, 2024 published yesterday can be downloaded for free at the DOSM portal at www.dosm.gov.my. — Bernama