KUALA LUMPUR - Over 2,000 members of scam syndicates have been arrested in a nationwide crackdown over the past month, Malaysia's police said on Thursday.

Rusdi Isa, director of Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department, told a press briefing that 1,303 people were nabbed from Sept 22 to 28, while other operations resulted in the arrest of 790 owners of alleged mule accounts involved in e-commerce fraud.

Rusdi said the operations were carried out in conjunction with the launch of the National Scam Response Center, aimed at combating commercial crimes involving the use of fake accounts to receive money from online fraud.

He added that 30 others were arrested on suspicion of directly being involved in operating an e-commerce scam call center, which had operations across the country. The group is believed to have caused 54 million ringgit ($12.8 million) in losses between January and May.

He cautioned that such syndicates are becoming increasingly sophisticated and operated across borders, and warned the public against lending or selling bank accounts and bank cards to other parties, as such acts are offences that can be misused for criminal activities and money laundering.