KUALA LUMPUR: Close to 100,000 mule accounts used by scammers have been detected since 2023, says Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf.
The Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director said the number of mule accounts has been on the rise.
"In 2023, a total of 46,048 mule accounts were detected followed by 50,295 accounts last year.
"By Jan 31, 6,567 mule accounts have been detected so far this year," he said when contacted on Friday (Feb 7).
The mule accounts have been opened at several local and international banks in the country, he added.
"Our investigations revealed that there is a trend lately of scammers using foreign workers to open mule accounts.
"The workers worked in various sectors, including service and security sectors.
"We detected 22 bank accounts under the names of foreign workers involved in scam-related activities," he said.
He reminded locals and foreigners not to lend, allow or rent out their bank accounts to anyone else as it is an offence.
"Such action is an offence under Section 424B of the Penal Code, which carries a fine of between RM10,000 and RM100,000 or up to seven years imprisonment or both upon conviction," he said.
Comm Ramli also called for data from the National Fraud Portal (NFP), which was launched last year by Bank Negara to strengthen the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC), to be integrated into the SemakMule Portal handed by the CCID.
"Sharing and integrating data from both portals will have a more effective impact towards curbing commercial crimes.
"We will be having meetings and discussions with the relevant parties on the matter soon," he said.
Comm Ramli said the number of scam cases could be reduced if Bank Negara imposed stricter regulations on the opening of bank accounts by businesses.
"At the same time, the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) should impose strict requirements on the registration of companies.
"Both measures could assist in curbing scams, especially investment scams," he said.
So far, 981 mule companies and businesses used by scammers have been listed on the SemakMule Portal, he said.
"These companies are suspected of being involved in investment scams.
"In fact, one of the companies even listed a 21-year-old student as its director," he said.
Based on SSM data, some 9.2 million businesses have been registered as of March 31 last year, Comm Ramli said.
"However, only 1.6 million or 17.8% were active.
"As for companies, 1.5 million have been registered only 673,393 (43.5%) were active.
"It indirectly shows that it was easy to register a company or a business. We feel the regulations to register such entities should be tightened to prevent any opportunities for scammers to exploit,' he said.
