Instruct banks to carry out audit on billions lost through scams, PKR tells Putrajaya

SHAH ALAM - An opposition MP has asked Putrajaya to instruct banks to conduct a forensic audit on 'money trail' of online fraud worth almost RM3.3 billion, stating they could do so by identifying the final recipient who took "stolen money."

This comes after a total of 98,607 cases of online fraud with an estimated loss of RM3.3 billion were reported nationwide from 2017 to last year.

Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil said this is a huge sum equivalent to at least RM660 million stolen from almost 20,000 people every year.

"Unfortunately, to this day, those who are brought to court are mostly from ‘mule’ account holders (who are manipulated by scammers) and not the heads or 'taikos'," he said in a statement.

Fahmi added if bank officials could identify the 'money trail' in former prime minister Najib Razak's court case, they should be able to do the same for online fraud cases.

"For example, as in the case of 1MDB involving Najib Razak, 1MDB's money went to the accounts of the "shell companies".

Due to that, Fahmi said Bank Negara and Bukit Aman should be able to identify the final recipients of the money stolen by the scammers.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (JSJK) Assistant Director of Telecommunication Crime Investigation Superintendent Rozeni Ismail had said during the same period, more than 30,000 individuals were detained and 25,000 individuals were charged in court.

He said most of the cases involved in Macau scams, online sales purchases, non-existent money loans and love scams.