BANK Negara (BNM) must work with other enforcement agencies to effectively fight online financial scams, Deputy Finance Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong said. 

He said he had raised this in his discussion with BNM deputy governor Marzunisham Omar yesterday. 

“I have urged BNM, which is also an enforcer and regulator, to join forces with police, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, and the National Financial Crime Centre to better study the safety and security levels of online finance.

“There is also a need to find a way to return the monies lost to scammers, provide guarantees to depositors, and invoke stern penalties against the offenders. 

“The fight against cybercrime involves all parties, not just the government. We need to rope in community groups,” said the Bukit Mertajam MP in a Facebook post.

He said there is now a 24-hour emergency hotline (997) to lodge reports on online scams.

He said BNM has been asked to seek out a more just mechanism to share liabilities between the merchant banks and the depositors for monies lost to scams.

“The burden of losses should not just be borne by the depositors. 

“It is a difficult process to detect and eradicate cybercrime, but there is a will to do it now. 

“It is not just Malaysia that is struggling from it. The same applies to other countries,” he said. 

Sim also said online financial scams is an important issue for Pakatan Harapan as it was one of the promises the pact made during the general election. 

“This is an election pledge. The issue is also important for me to settle,” he said. 

Police previously said there were 71,833 fraud cases recorded from 2020 until May, with losses amounting to RM5.2 billion. – December 24, 2022.