THE government should make it mandatory for banks to compensate 100% of losses suffered by online scam victims.
According to Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen, the move could push banks to upgrade their online banking security systems and tighten standard operating procedures (SOPs) for online transactions.
During his royal address debate in Dewan Rakyat, the Sarawak DAP chairman noted that since last year, numerous bank account holders have had their whole life savings transferred to third-party accounts without their consent or knowledge.
Chong also expressed his disappointment that almost all authoritative parties had done little to assist the victims.
“Scam victims bring their issues to banks, who neither treat the issues as they should, nor provide any sort of compensation,” he was reported as saying.
“They then refer their cases to the Ombudsman for Financial Services, who take the banks’ sides. Victims then lodge a police report with the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), who in turn push the banks to investigate, who then push it back to the police. Meanwhile, Bank Negara Malaysia does not do anything.
“This is a policy matter that has to be decided by the government. A caring government cannot take this lightly and leave victims to face banks and suffer through scams,” he added.
He further noted that scam victims are not rich people who had to work for years to save for rainy days, only to lose their hard-earned money to online scammers.
Citing Singapore as an example, Chong pointed out that the island nation had resolved a phishing scam issue that had occurred in Dec 2021 within six months.
He said its banks compensated victims 100% of their losses as a form of goodwill payment and its police had successfully apprehended the responsible parties within two months.
“In comparison, banks in Malaysia have not compensated the victims, and the police has failed to apprehended any suspects, BNM remains indifferent and the government is constantly ‘discussing’ matters that have going on for years,” he said.
“I understand that the previous government was a backdoor government where political leaders stole power but now it is a legitimate government that is also led by the Finance Minister. I hope the government resolves this matter quickly, and not let the victims continue to be tortured by both the criminals and the banks.
Chong further revealed that from June 2017 to June 2022, Malaysia’s top six banks have a cumulative net profit of RM125 bil compared to a total of RM2.97 bil that had been lost to online scams.
“If we check the losses of victims, it does not even amount to 3% of banks’ profits, which means that the industrial banks can afford to compensate the victims’ losses,” he added.
“Scams might amount to small losses for the banks but for individual account holders it is their everything.” – Feb 20, 2023
Main pic credit: Bernama
