THE public should always be cautious about the tactics used by scammers to avoid falling victim to white-collar crimes.

Prai police station chief Insp K.P. Surestaran said among the more popular scams were non-existent loans, e-commerce scams, investment scams, Macau scams and love scams.

“Nowadays, thieves will not ‘directly’ steal money from us.

“Instead of taking, they will use existing technology to cheat the public,” he said.

Insp Surestaran said the Prai police station received 312 scam cases in 2021 so far, compared to 373 cases last year.

“On average, the police station records two to three cases daily involving scams.

Insp Surestaran (middle) and his officers holding up pamphlets on commercial crime awareness at the event. – ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star

“If you happen to encounter these kind of scams against you, do not panic. Come to us and tell us what happened.

“The most important thing is the public should not divulge any personal information such as banking account or credit card details, and avoid doing any transaction while using free WiFi service.”

Insp Surestaran said this during a talk on ‘Crime Prevention Awareness and Latest SOP on National Recovery Plan’ at Ixora Hotel in Prai, near Butterworth recently.

During the talk, he reminded the public that the state was still under Phase Three of the National Recovery Plan, adding that there were certain activities that were still prohibited in an effort to prevent Covid-19 infections.

The talk was organised by Ixora Hotel and Grand Orient Hotel to foster closer relationship among the community, hotels and police and at the same time, help raise awareness on crime prevention.

Ixora Hotel general manager John MacNeill said the talk was a great initiative to get the local business community and the police to discuss issues about the pandemic and crime prevention.

“Many have turned to online business now due to the pandemic and they are prone to the risk of becoming victims of scammers.

“Having this type of discussion and sharing information would be beneficial to all,” he said.

Grand Orient Hotel manager James Chang said the talk was a great effort from the community and the police.

“We are happy to do our bit here as part of the community,” he said.

Present during the event were Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation state liaison committee member Datuk M. Kaleessvaran, Seberang Prai city councillor K. Jason Raj and representatives from the business community in the Prai area.