Malaysians have reacted with great sorrow and sympathy for National mixed doubles shuttler Lai Pei Jing, who became a victim of a major scam that left her nearly penniless. Lee lost most of her savings to a fraud, and is clearly distressed emotionally after decades of hard work disappearing from heartless scammers taking advantage of her kindness.
Despite efforts by the police to prevent scams, action against scammers have proven ineffective with losses from scams increasing from RM 700 million in 2021 to RM 1.3 billion from 30,000 cases of online fraud last year. The Inspector-General of Police should personally lead a special task force against scammers that have cost huge losses to individual victims of more than RM 1.3 billion in 2023.
Action must be taken to stop scammers and losses from escalating from 2023’s record RM 1.3 billion loss to a higher level. Only the personal and direct involvement of the IGP can prevent more innocent Malaysians from falling victim to these heartless scammer criminals.
Make Banks That Are Negligent Or Indifferent To Fraudulent Schemes By Scammers Share Responsibility For Losses Suffered By Scam Victims.
The government should also make banks that are negligent or indifferent to fraudulent schemes by scammers share responsibility for losses suffered by scam victims. There should be a “shared responsibility framework” that would allocate responsibility for scam losses among financial institutions, telecommunications operators and consumers.
Under the plan, financial institutions and telcos would provide payouts to scam victims for a defined set of scams, in cases where specified anti-scam duties are breached. I have broached this idea with Deputy Minister of Law M. Kulasegaran who indicated that the necessary amendments may be tabled in the coming Parliamentary session in June-July 2024.
As Lee Pei Jing bravely said, “I hope to prevent more victims and also force myself to accept the fact that I was scammed”. Let us hope that more Malaysians can be careful and not fall victim to scams as well as the authorities, including the police and bank, work together in concert to prevent major scams.
LIM GUAN ENG
