Malaysia: Crime

In general Malaysia is very safe, with violent crimes being fairly uncommon. However, the usual travel precautions apply, such as restraining your urge to go wandering around seedy areas alone late at night. Credit-card fraud is a growing problem so only use your cards at established businesses and guard your credit-card numbers. The snatching of bags by thieves on motorcycles is a recurring crime in Kuala Lumpur and Penang’s Georgetown, so keep bags away from the roadside in these areas. In seedy areas such as Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur’s Golden Triangle, male travellers may be harassed to buy pirated porn DVDs, drugs or the services of prostitutes.