At a seminar in Malaysia, a police officer said that Indian Malaysians are much less likely to be victims of scams because they ask many questions during the attempt.
The statement was made by the deputy chief of Penang’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department, who backed up his claims with both statistics and testimony from arrested scammers.
Data provided during the presentation revealed that Chinese and Malay scam victims were much more common in Penang in 2025.
For example, in its northeast district, a total of 949 victims were Chinese and 384 were Malay. Meanwhile, only 126 victims were Indian.
In other districts, both Chinese and Malay victims often reach well beyond several hundreds, but Indian victims are nowhere near cracking the hundred mark.
Source: Sin Chew
Police interviews with arrested scammers shed more light on the data.
According to them, although there are equal attempts on Indian Malaysians, their constant questioning frequently wards off the scammers.
One example given is if a scammer attempts a fake kidnapping scheme, they will often get pestered with questions about who, what, when, where, and why.
The barrage of questions will continue even if the scammer tries to move on.
Meanwhile, the deputy chief also noted that women were much more likely to be victims of romance scams.
Source: Sin Chew
Based on 2024 data from Penang, 57 women fell victim to the scams while only 17 men did. He added that victims were generally lured in by their loneliness or greed.
He cited examples from two cases, including one where a widow lost RM 1 million (~S$322K) to a “new partner”. The losses included the insurance payout from her husband’s passing.
Also read: 239 scammers & money mules probed after S’pore-wide operation, victims lost over S$8.9M
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