KUALA LUMPUR: A law allowing the police to take control of scam victims’ bank accounts will be a game-changer in stamping out incidents of Malaysians being duped repeatedly, say the police.
A new law giving the police powers to control victims’ bank accounts will boost effort to stop scammers in the act, said Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf.
While welcoming such a law, which has been proposed in Singapore, the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director said such a law is necessary as some victims are oblivious to the fact that they are being targeted by scammers.
“I feel Malaysia needs such laws because people refuse to believe that they are being scammed (despite warnings and advice from the police).
“Such laws will give the police punitive powers to seize accounts of victims to prevent them from being scammed,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Currently, certain bank officers in Malaysia, although not mandated by law, advise clients of suspicious transactions, Comm Ramli said.
“Bank officers will advise customers not to go through with a transaction if it is deemed suspicious, especially involving large amounts,” he added.
On Nov 11, Singapore introduced the Protection from Scams Bill which is believed to be the first of its kind in the world.
The law proposes empowering the police with powers to control victims’ bank accounts.
If passed, the police will be allowed to issue restriction orders to banks, which will then limit bank transactions from an individual’s account.
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Malaysia has the highest rate of online fraud re-victimisation in Asia, with victims being targeted over 2.5 times on average, according to the Asia Scam Report 2024 issued by Global Anti-Scam Alliance.
At the moment, Malaysian police can only bar transactions and seize money from bank accounts suspected to be mule accounts under recent amendments to the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code.
Comm Ramli said the proposed law will only work with the cooperation of banks.
“The banks are monitoring their clients’ transactions so if they spot anything suspicious, they should alert the police,” he said.
“With the new law, the police will be able to seize the account and prevent money from going out of the victims’ accounts.”
It is unfortunate that many victims refused to believe they were being scammed until it was too late, Comm Ramli said.
“We had a case of a 65-year-old woman who got conned by a love scam, and ended up with only RM60 in her bank account.
“Recently, a scam syndicate even used a victim to receive money from another victim,” he said.
As of Nov 24, Comm Ramli said 28,377 commercial crime cases involving RM2.5bil in losses have been recorded this year.
“The number of cases show a 5% spike compared to the same corresponding period last year, with losses jumping significantly by 37% this year compared to RM1.8bil between Jan 1 and Nov 24 last year,” he said.
