INSPECTOR-General of Police Razarudin Husain should personally lead a special task force against scammers that have caused losses of more than RM 1.3 billion in 2023, Lim Guan Eng said.
The Bagan MP in a statement said only the personal and direct involvement of the IGP can prevent more innocent Malaysians from falling victim to these heartless criminals.
“Action must be taken to stop scammers and losses from escalating from last year's record RM 1.3 billion loss to a higher level.
“Despite efforts by the police to prevent scams, action against scammers have proven ineffective with losses from scams increasing from RM 700 million in 2021 to RM 1.3 billion from 30,000 cases of online fraud last year,” said Lim who is also DAP chairman.
The statement from Lim came after national mixed doubles shuttler Lai Pei Jing, became a victim of a major scam that left her nearly penniless.
Meanwhile Lim also said that the government should also make banks that are negligent or indifferent to fraudulent schemes by scammers to share responsibility for losses suffered by victims.
He said there should be a “shared responsibility framework” that would allocate responsibility for scam losses among financial institutions, telecommunications operators and consumers.
“Under the plan, financial institutions and telcos would provide payouts to scam victims for a defined set of scams, in cases where specified anti-scam duties are breached.”
“I have broached this idea with Deputy Minister of Law M. Kulasegaran who indicated that the necessary amendments may be tabled in the coming Parliamentary session in June-July 2024,” he said. – June 4, 2024.
