KUALA LUMPUR: Loan scam syndicates are duping victims into parting with their money by imposing "an initial fee" before the so-called loan can be approved, says the police. Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Comm Datuk Mohd Kamarudin Md Din said the syndicates would come up with various excuses for the initial fee, including covering the cost of lawyers and insurance. "Any processing fee is included as part of the total loan taken," he said in a statement on Friday (April 15). Any loan that required clients to pay an initial fee is a scam, he said. Comm Kamarudin said a total of 5,039 loan scam cases were reported in 2019 resulting in RM48mil in losses.
