Move to beef up scam response centre

KUALA LUMPUR: Bukit Aman has proposed nearly 500 new permanent posts for its Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) for round-the-clock operations at the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC).

Federal CCID director Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said the 497 proposed positions include call centre and data collection personnel as well as investigation officers in each district.

“We feel that 24-hour operations are a must as cases received by the NSRC require swift and urgent action in order to recover victims’ money.

“Our department plays a role in conducting investigations for cases reported at the NSRC by tracking syndicates and mule accounts for each layer of a syndicate’s operation,” he said.

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Comm Ramli said they were also working towards returning the money recovered by the NSRC to victims, through the provisions of the law under Section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

“We also play a role in sharing the latest modus operandi to all NSRC officers as well as preventive measures so that they can be conveyed to victims who contact the centre.

“The NSRC received a total of 49,700 phone calls between October 2022 and August 2023,” he added.

He said 11,040 of those calls were made within 24 hours of when the victims discovered that they had been scammed.

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He added that those cases resulted in over RM128.96mil in losses.

In May, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the NSRC was in the process of extending its operating hours.

Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, said Bank Negara Malaysia had requested all banks to offer automated services in order to stop the transfer of money immediately in the event of fraud.

He was responding to a question in Parliament from Tan Hong Pin (PH-Bakri), who wanted to know whether the government had plans to extend the operating hours of NSRC to 24 hours.

The Prime Minister also said that a review of the law was ongoing for plans to allow the return of monies to fraud victims.

Comm Ramli advised the public to call 997 to contact the NSRC if they fear that they had fallen victim to a scam.

“Our personnel will do their best to assist you,” he said.