KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — City police have recorded 87 cases of fraudulent face mask sales involving more than RM2.5 million since January.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Seri Mazlan Lazim said since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country in March, cases involving fraudulent sales of face masks, hand sanitizers and gloves have been on the rise.

“The Commercial Crime Investigation unit’s statistics showed that from January to May there were 87 face masks scams that mostly involved online sales platforms.

“We have so far made 41 arrests and 24 cases have already been charged in court,” he said in a statement today.

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Mazlan said the increase in such scam cases is worrying and urged members of the public to be more careful when purchasing items from unknown sellers.

“People can always check the background of the seller. For example they can check the account number of the seller at the Royal Malaysian police website for a red flag.

“They can also check the seller’s background on Companies Commission of Malaysia’s website,” he said.

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Mazlan also reminded buyers to ensure they purchase such items from trusted online sales platform and check for reviews on the website before making the purchase.

In April, Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Mohd Zakaria Ahmad had said that 501 cases of fraudulent face mask sales involving more than RM3.5 million were reported during the implementation of the movement control order which was enforced on March 18.

He said most victims dealt with the “sellers” via social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and other online sales platforms as well as via chat apps such as WhatsApp and WeChat.

He said after the victims make their payment, they (victims) will no longer be able to contact the suspects and their social media connection would be blocked.

All the cases are investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.