By Majangkim Office
KOTA KINABALU: Love is in the air. And for scammers, so is money.
In just 31 days, Malaysians lost RM3.5 million to the promise of romance. The latest data from the Royal Malaysia Police’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department (JSJK) reveals that 100 love scam cases were reported in January 2026.
While the number of cases rose slightly from 95 in January 2025, the total losses dropped by 27%—from RM4.9 million to RM3.5 million.¹
But behind the numbers is a truth no one likes to admit: every scam revolves around greed.
The scammer is greedy for your money. They will spend weeks, even months, building a fiction—sweet words, fake photos, promises of a future together.
They are patient because the payoff is worth it.
The victim? They are greedy too. Not for money, but for something more precious: the belief that this time, honesty will pay. That the person on the other end of the screen is real.
That love can be found in a message from a stranger. That if they just send a little help now, the payoff—a lifetime of companionship—will finally arrive.
It is the oldest human longing: to be seen, to be loved, to have our goodness rewarded. Scammers simply monetise it.
Who Is Being Targeted?
The police data draws a clear profile of the typical victim:
Demographic Proportion
Women 60% of cases
Aged 30–50 72% of cases
As JSJK Director Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa stated, women “continue to be the most frequent victims,” and the vast majority are middle-aged adults—a demographic often financially stable and emotionally vulnerable to the promise of companionship.
They enter these exchanges in good faith. The scammers do not.
How They Operate
Love scams thrive on trust. Fraudsters create fake profiles on social media and dating platforms, build emotional connections over weeks or months, and then invent crises:
A medical emergency
A gift held up at customs
A plane ticket to finally meet
The victim, believing they have found something real, sends money. Again and again. Each payment is a wager: If I help now, surely he will come. Surely she will love me back.
In one January case, a Kedah woman lost RM925,850 across 166 transactions to 15 different bank accounts.³ She was not stupid. She was hopeful. And hope, when weaponised, is expensive.
The money flows through mule accounts—bank accounts belonging to third parties, often ordinary Malaysians who are paid a small fee to let their accounts be used.
Their greed is smaller, but it is greed nonetheless. In January, police continued their crackdown on such accounts under new legal provisions targeting mule account holders.⁴
What You Can Do
The police have made prevention simple. Before sending money or sharing personal details, use the Semak Mule portal:
semakmule.rmp.gov.my
This official database allows you to check whether a phone number or bank account has been linked to fraudulent activity. It takes seconds and could save you thousands.
If you suspect you have been scammed, call the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) at 997 immediately to attempt to block the transaction.⁵
The Bottom Line
Love should not cost you RM3.5 million.
The scams are getting more sophisticated, but the defence is simple: verify, question, and never send money to someone you have not met in person.
As Datuk Rusdi warned, the public must “exercise caution amid rising online romance fraud.”⁶
But the deeper defence is harder. It requires looking inward and asking: What am I hoping to gain? And is this stranger really the one who can give it?
The scammer’s greed is obvious. The victim’s greed—for love, for connection, for a happy ending—is human. But it is also what makes the scam work.
Recognise it. Name it. And then, before you send a single sen, ask yourself: Is this love—or is this just greed dressed in a beautiful lie?
But Here Is the Truth Worth Holding Onto
Your longing for love is not a weakness. It is what makes you human.
The scammers exploit it, yes. They build elaborate lies because they know that deep down, every one of us wants to be seen, wanted, cherished. That desire is not shameful. It is sacred.
The answer is not to stop hoping. It is to hope with open eyes.
Sleepless in Seattle captured this tension perfectly. Annie Reed, a woman desperately searching for signs of destiny, watches an old movie and sighs:
“Now those were the days when people knew how to be in love. They knew it! Time, distance… nothing could separate them because they knew. It was right. It was real.”
Her friend Becky brings her crashing back to earth:
“That’s your problem. You don’t want to be in love. You want to be in love in a movie.”
The scammers sell the movie version—the sweeping gestures, the destiny, the happy ending. They promise a love story so perfect it could be on screen.
But real love is not a script. It unfolds in messy, ordinary moments. It asks for your time, your attention, your patience. It does not ask for your bank details.
So by all means, swipe right. Send that first message. Laugh at a stranger’s joke and wonder if this could be something. The internet has brought millions of real couples together. Your person could be out there.
But let them prove it. Let them wait. Let them show up.
Because the love you deserve will never ask you to pay for the privilege of hoping.
The scams will keep coming. The greedy will keep scheming. But so will the hopeful, the romantic, the believers. And that is beautiful.
Just believe with your heart—and verify with your head.
The heart wants what it wants. The head has Semak Mule.
Use both.
“Keep hoping. Keep loving. But keep your money in your pocket until love shows its face.” Good Luck to you all.
