Chong Chong said the affected banks need to be held accountable since the mule accounts were only allowed to be opened through these banks.
KUCHING (March 7): Banks should be playing a more responsible role in efforts to combat bank scams, said Sarawak DAP chairman 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,” the Stampin MP said in his Parliamentary debate speech in Kuala Lumpur today.
“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 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.
“If banks handled the process of opening a bank account more strictly and carefully, such mule accounts would not have existed, 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,” he said.
The Financial Services Act, he said, should be amended to allow the banks to compensate the affected victims, if not fully, at least part of the losses.
Banks will only be more careful in allowing any person to open a bank account when they have to be responsible for the losses of bank scam victims, making them more inclined to improve their security system, Chong added.
“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.
Last month, Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Mancha Ata announced that, in 2023, Sarawak had 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 Chong, who is also Padungan assemblyman.
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,” said Chong.
On another matter, Chong said he welcomed the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission’s (MACC) initiative to probe two personalities carrying the title ‘Tun’, hoping that MACC will continue discharging their duties.
He was referring to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad and Tun Daim Zainuddin, who Chong claimed were extraordinarily rich.
“Although we know that they are rich, we were unaware that they are that rich,” Chong told the Parliament.
For future cases, he urged MACC to at least request potential suspects to declare their assets as the people have a basic right to know about them, particularly those of politicians and their respective family members.
