COLLABORATION between the police and their regional counterparts led to the crippling of several international call scam centres over the past three years, says Datuk Seri Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah.
The Deputy Home Minister said the effort was among several measures taken to combat international syndicates operating here and abroad.
“In 2022, the police here worked 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 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) yesterday.
She wanted to know if the weaknesses in enforcement has led Malaysia to be perceived as a preferred destination for international scammers, in light of the recent detention of over 400 individuals at Bangsar South.
Shamsul said 10 individuals were arrested in 2024 for investment scams following cooperation between police with enforcement agencies in Taiwan and Singapore.
“The latest is joint operations between the 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 those located here but also abroad,” he added.
To a supplementary question by Nurul Amin Hamid (PN-Padang Terap), Shamsul said the Home Ministry will consider his proposal of penalising property owners who allow their premises to be used as scam centres.
Earlier, Shamsul acknowledged there were still weaknesses in combating cybercrimes, which is becoming more sophisticated due 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“The laws are deemed too lenient or outdated, particularly when faced with scamming tactics that are becoming more sophisticated,” he said, adding that the absence of a comprehensive law to tackle cross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 were used by cyber criminals, with measures including freezing the accounts of suspected offenders.
