KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — The government has agreed to amend the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) to allow refunds to victims of online scams, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim told the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to a supplementary question from Tan Hong Pin (PH-Bakri) during the Ministers’ Question Time (MQT).
Tan wanted to know the measures taken by the government to speed up the process of returning stolen funds to victims of online scams.
Earlier, to an original from Tan regarding the plan to extend the operating hours of the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) to 24 hours daily, the Prime Minister said the matter had been agreed to by the government.
Anwar said Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) had also informed all banks in the country to monitor such complaints from their account holders round the clock.
“Besides that, there is an effort towards automation measures so that complainants can take action to stop the withdrawal of funds from their bank accounts immediately. This is a new development by BNM,” he said.
The Prime Minister also told the Dewan Rakyat that a total of 3,595 cases of online fraud were investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code and that the government had so far recovered RM34.8 million of the looted money.
The government, he said, had also increased funds for the operation of the NSRC by RM10 million this year through the 2023 Budget, as well as increasing the number of officers to strengthen the enforcement of the response centre.
