Chong: Banks should play more responsible role to combat bank scams
KUCHING: Banks should be playing a more responsible role in efforts to combat bank scams, said Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen.
“If we look at the elements of these bank scams and withdrawal of money from a bank account without the knowledge and permission of the account holder, such cases often involves the transfer of money into the recipient bank account, which is usually a mule account,” he said in an extract of his debate speech delivered in Parliament yesterday.
“So far, the tracing of the victims’ money will stop at the mule account only, and the victims will not have a way to recover their losses. This is very unfair to the victims.”
Chong, who is Sarawak Democratic Action Party chairman, said the affected banks need to be held accountable since the mule accounts were only allowed to be opened through these banks, allowing fraud to be perpetrated using such accounts.
He said if banks handled the process of opening an account more strictly and carefully, such mule accounts would not exist, thus preventing bank scams from occurring.
“Therefore, making any bank that has mule accounts involved in bank scam cases responsible for the victims’ losses is one of the more effective ways to deal with these types of scams.”
The Financial Services Act, he said, should be amended to allow the banks to compensate the affected victims for at least part of the losses, if not in full. He contended that banks would only be more careful in allowing any person to open a bank account when they sare made responsible for the losses of scam victims, and also more inclined to improve their security system.
“Does the government intend to create banks to bear the losses of victims of bank scams? If intended, when will it be implemented?” he asked.
Chong said last month, Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Mancha Ata announced that in 2023, Sarawak recorded 2,958 commercial crime cases, resulting in a loss of RM117 million.
“This is a huge increase compared to 2022, which recorded a total of 2,461 cases involving a loss of RM66 million. In terms of commercial crime case numbers, that is a 20 per cent increase, and in terms of monetary value loss, a 77 per cent increase,” said the MP, who is also Padungan assemblyman.
He added that the majority of commercial crime cases involving bank scams continue to be a threat to the safety of people’s money kept in banks.
“Although measures have been taken by the government through the establishment of 997 National Scam Response Centre (NSRC), the crime statistics still show an increase in the number of cases.
“It is clear that the measures taken by the government so far are ineffective in curbing the activities of scam banks and protecting the people’s money in banks.”
On another matter, Chong said he welcomed the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission’s (MACC) initiative to probe two personalities carrying the title ‘Tun’, and hoped the commission would continue discharging its duties. Referring to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad and Tun Daim Zainuddin, Chong said: “Although we know that they are rich, we were unaware that they are that rich.”
For future cases, he also urged MACC to at least request potential suspects, particularly politicians and their respective family members, to declare their assets, saying ‘the people have a basic right to know about this.’