GEORGE TOWN – Deputy Finance Minister Steven Sim has called on Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to work effectively with various authorities to eradicate online financial scams.
Sim, who is also Bukit Mertajam MP, posted on social media that he held a two-hour discussion with the central bank’s deputy governor Datuk Marzunisham Omar on how to address the growing rate of such scams.
“This is an election pledge. The issue is also important for me to settle.”
According to the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, there were 71,833 fraud cases recorded from 2020 until May, with a loss amounting to RM5.2 billion.
The most prevalent scams, as revealed by police, are in banks/government impersonation, illegal loans, money mules through fraud accounts and ATM cards, investment scams, e-commerce scams, and romance scams.
Before the election, Sim had raised several cases of how the hard-earned money of the working class was lost to scammers, especially life savings.
“I have urged BNM, who is also an enforcer and regulator, to join forces with police, the Malaysian Communications Multimedia Commission, and the National Financial Crime Centre to study better safety and security levels of online finance.
“There is also a need to find a way to return the monies lost to scammers, provide guarantees to depositors, and invoke stern penalties against the offenders.
“The fight against cybercrime involves all parties, not just the government. We need to rope in community groups,” he said.
Sim also revealed that there is now a 24-hour emergency hotline, 997, to lodge reports on online scams.
He has also asked BNM to seek out a fairer mechanism to share liabilities between the merchant banks and the depositors for monies lost to scams.
“The burden of losses should not just be borne by the depositors.”
“It is a difficult process to detect and eradicate cybercrime, but there is a will to do it now.
"It is not just Malaysia who is struggling from it. The same applies to other countries,” he added. – The Vibes, December 24, 2022
