KUALA LUMPUR: Collaboration between the police here and their regional counterparts led to the crippling of several international scam call centres over the past three years, says Datuk Seri Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah (pic).
The Deputy Home Minister said the effort was among several measures taken to combat international scam syndicates operating here and abroad.
"In 2022, the police here worked together with their counterparts from Singapore, Australia and Taiwan on five occasions resulting in the arrest of more than 30 individuals involved in love and job scams.
"In 2023, there were three occasions where police here worked with police from Taiwan and Singapore related to the same cases where 21 arrests were made," he said when answering a question by Datuk Seri Doris Sophia Brodi (GPS-Sri Aman) in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Oct 7).
She wanted to know if weaknesses in enforcement has led Malaysia to be perceived as a preferred destination for international scammers in light of the recent case involving over 400 individuals detained in Bangsar South.
Shamsul said that 10 individuals were arrested in 2024 for investment scams following cooperation between police here with enforcement agencies in Taiwan and Singapore.
"The latest is the joint operation between police here and Singapore, China and Indonesia on four occasions which resulted in the arrests of 45 individuals.
"This shows that we are taking action against these syndicates not only located but also abroad," he added.
To a supplementary question by Nurul Amin Hamid (PN-Padang Terap), Shamsul said that the Home Ministry will consider his proposal of penalising property owners who allow their premises to be used as scam call centres.
Earlier, Shamsul acknowledged there were still weaknesses in combating cybercrimes which are becoming more sophisticated owing to rapid advancement in technology.
"One of the critical issues is the incompatibility of the law with the realities of cybercrimes.
"The laws are deemed too lenient or outdated, particularly when faced with scamming tactics that are becoming more sophisticated," he said.
He added that the absence of a comprehensive law to tackle cross border cybercrimes has resulted in many cases failing to be prosecuted or effectively dealt with.
Shamsul added that the lack of expertise among enforcement agencies was also a factor when faced with the use of the latest technologies by cyber criminals.
In response to the growing threat, Shamsul said that several laws such as the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code were recently amended to allow action to be taken against those whose accounts are used by cyber criminals.
This includes freezing the accounts of suspected offenders, he added.
He also said that the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) was brought under the control of the police in June this year.
In July, he said that the NSRC had set a 24-hour hotline for members of the public to report online scams.
He added that talks are being held with the Public Services Department to beef up the NSRC with the required manpower and expertise.
