KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 22 -- Malaysia recorded its highest losses from financial scams in three years, with some RM2.77 billion wiped out in 2025 alone, the Home Ministry told Parliament in a written reply yesterday.

The surge pushed total losses linked to online and financial fraud between 2023 and 2025 to RM5.62 billion, underscoring what officials describe as an escalating and increasingly sophisticated threat.

According to the ministry, scams involving phone calls, romance schemes, e-commerce fraud, bogus financing offers and non-existent loans or investments continued to dominate the landscape.

Losses amounted to RM1.28 billion in 2023 before rising to RM1.57 billion in 2024 and spiking again last year.

The ministry said the police a...