GEORGE TOWN (Nov 21): Penang recorded a 45% increase in online fraud cases involving various types of scams this year, with 2,363 cases compared to 1,632 cases last year.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said that to address this, the police have implemented several strategic measures.

"Based on police records, there was an increase of 731 cases or 45% recorded from early January to Sept 30 this year compared to 2022.

"Police are taking several strategic measures, including stepping up law enforcement, namely arrests and charges in court, as well as commercial crime prevention campaigns held by the Penang Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) from time to time,” he said at the Penang State Legislative Assembly sitting here on Tuesday.

He was replying to a question from Lee Boon Heng (PKR-Kebun Bunga) regarding online fraud cases recorded in Penang and, if there was an increase, the steps that would be taken by the authorities to deal with the problem.

Chow said that the police are also collaborating at the national level with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Bank Negara as these two agencies have provided lots of help in investigations, such as the internet network and the banking system.

He said the police have also forged collaborations at the international level through the Financial Intelligence Unit to block fund transfers at the global level.

"The public can also use the 'Semak Mule’ application developed by the CCID to enable them to check the bank account numbers and telephone numbers involved in police investigations.

"The public is also advised to use this application before making any online cash transactions,” he said.