KUALA LUMPUR – In light of national badminton player Lai Pei Jing’s admission to falling victim to a major scam, DAP lawmaker Lim Guan Eng has called upon the government to make “negligent or indifferent” banks liable for losses due to fraud.
In a statement today, Lim said this responsibility to prevent scams should also be shouldered by the telecommunications companies.
“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 law minister) M. Kulasegaran who indicated that the necessary amendments may be tabled in the coming parliamentary session in June-July 2024,” Lim said.
The Bagan MP also called upon police to form a special task force led by Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain in a bid to combat scammers.
“Despite efforts by police, action against scammers has proven ineffective with losses from scams increasing from RM700 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 RM1.3 billion in 2023.”
Yesterday, national mixed doubles player Lai revealed in a Facebook post that the fraud nearly left her broke.
She said due to the fraudulent scheme she lost almost all her savings from her decades of hard work. – June 4, 2024