Malaysian authorities warn of an uptick in crypto investment fraud

Malaysia notes an increase in investment scams in cryptocurrency, the authorities warning that more professionals and the elderly are targeted.

The director of the Bukit Aman’s commercial crime investigations, the Datuk series, the Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf series, said in March. 17 report That older investors, especially those over the age of 60, should be very careful and avoid rushing into cryptographic investments.

Ramli highlighted a recent case where a 74 -year -old man lost tens of millions of ringgit after falling in love with a scam.

Some victims, he explained, believe that the purchase of several pieces of cryptocurrency-each worth hundreds of thousands of ringggit-will guarantee great profits, but in reality, “no investment is made, it is purely a scam”.

Beyond the cryptographic fraud, the scams by phone remain another major concern. Crypto crooks often make the identity of the trusted authorities, whether it is financial regulatorsbanks, or even the police, to Trick victims By putting their money back.

Ramli warned residents to be wary of fraudulent calls usurping the identity of the authorities, stressing that legitimate agencies such as the police, the tax office and the central bank do not work via telephone calls in several stages that bounce between different departments.

“There is nothing like a call that starts with a messaging company, then connects to the police, the bank and the audit service-all in a single conversation,” he said.

Ramli has attributed the thrust to rapid technological progress, which makes fraud regimes more sophisticated.

The crooks were more and more Take advantage of AI -based tools and Deepfake technology To make their programs more convincing by having the ampiclation of the authorities or legitimate projects. Experts have warned that this The trend is likely to continue.

Malaysian authorities are also Turn to AI and blockchain technology To combat financial crimes, using these tools to improve fraud detection and more effectively follow illicit transactions.

“As law -respecting citizens, do not be afraid and do not fall into these scams, you might eventually lose millions,” said Ramli, adding that many scam operations are managed with luxury condominiums in densely populated areas like Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

Despite the growing threat, the authorities progressed in solving the problem, the JSJK carrying 23,000 arrests linked to the scam unions last year – a ramli figure described as a “significant success”.

Beyond investment fraud, Malaysia has also fought with an increase in illegal Bitcoin extraction operations. As before reported By crypto.News, the authorities discovered cases where minors illegally exploit electricity, costing the country’s electrical network of hundreds of millions of losses.