FAR too many men and women have fallen victims to scoundrels who cheat them of their hard-earned money in the name of love in the past few weeks, and the big question here is, are the authorities doing enough to curb such activities?
Beyond attempts to trace the owner of the bank accounts used by these scammers, there is very little that the police can do to help scam victims recover the money once it has been stolen.
This is in addition to the standard advice for the public to be cautious and not become easily entangled in love matters through social media to avoid falling victim to fraud.
But think about it: if these types of advice have worked the way they were supposed to, then we would not be seeing the growing number of love scams.
Just last week, for example, two love scam-related cases made national headlines. The first is the case of a 58-year-old rubber tapper from Jempol, Negri Sembilan who lost his savings in the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) amounting to RM99,000.
Two days later, an accounts clerk from Bukit Mertajam suffered the same fate and parted
with RM927,400.
Considering the fact that scammers are becoming more and more sophisticated with their tactics these days, maybe it’s time for the authorities to up their game as well.
In this case, the Communications and Multimedia Ministry and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) should play a crucial role to educate consumers through their respective channels.
They need to work closely with business operators, including financial institutions, telecommunication companies and digital platform owners to educate consumers about the red flags of love scams to look out for to avoid from becoming a victim.
In addition to online campaigns and roadshows, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, too, need to frequently publish and update all scam-related cases on their website and social media platforms so that consumers will be well-informed.
Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies need to ramp up their efforts by closely working with foreign law enforcement counterparts to crack down on foreign love scam syndicates remotely committing such offences.
This involves coming down hard on these culprits by charging them in court as well as increasing the fines and jail terms to further deter more people from resorting to scams and cheating people out of their life savings.
In today’s digital world, even the pursuit of love can put you in danger of a love scam, and as such, all hands must be on deck to prevent consumers from falling prey to such treachery. – June 30, 2021
