by NURUL NAJMIN ABU BAKAR
PRIME Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called for banks to be held accountable for negligence leading to monetary losses in online scams.
He announced that a study, chaired by Treasury Secretary-General Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican, will be conducted to strengthen laws on bank accountability.
“The study aims to hold banks liable for failing to monitor and comply with regulations, as evidenced by the RM178,407 refunded under Section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Code, highlighting a pathway for restitution,” he said during the PM’s Question Time in Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
Anwar noted that this approach aligns with the UK, where banks are held responsible if negligence is proven.
He stressed that this principle should also be adopted in Malaysia to better protect consumers.
Scams remain a critical issue, with the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) blocking RM19 million in fraudulent funds, seizing RM6 million and handling 140,474 cases, including 69,000 fraud-related incidents.
“Without the collaboration of the NSRC, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Royal Malaysia Police, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, financial institutions and telcos, RM19 million could have been lost,” Anwar said.
Malaysia recorded over RM1.22 billion in losses from January to October due to various online crimes, including scams, telecommunication fraud, e-finance scams, love scams, e-commerce fraud and fake investments.
Preventive initiatives include the Semak Mule portal, which has flagged 181,628 phone numbers, 222,092 bank accounts and 1,395 company names associated with online scams.
The portal has facilitated over 32 million searches, with 22.2 million positive matches preventing funds from being transferred to mule accounts.
Other measures include amendments to Section 116D of the Criminal Procedure Code, empowering police to block suspicious transactions, alongside the government’s efforts to block 1.4 billion suspicious calls, 1.2 billion unsolicited SMS messages, 118,184 fraudulent phone lines and 9,474 fake websites.
