KUCHING: A retired Kuching teacher lost approximately RM47,000 after scammers, posing as a cleaning service on Facebook, tricked her into surrendering remote access to her phone.
The fraudsters drained her savings, cash advances and e-wallet balances across several financial platforms during a two-hour call – all without her knowledge.
SUPP Public Complaints Bureau chief, Milton Foo, who took up her case, condemned the incident as emblematic of a national crisis.
“Online scams are akin to daylight robbery, and our government can no longer afford to treat this as a minor concern,” he said at a press conference today (Mar 7).
Foo’s primary demand is for Parliament to amend the Financial Services Act 2013, compelling banks to adopt far stricter security measures for online transactions.
He also urged Bank Negara Malaysia and the Ministry of Finance to make biometric authentication – facial recognition or thumb print – mandatory at all ATM cash withdrawals, to prevent mule runners from cashing out stolen funds undetected.
Mule account holders, who rent out their bank cards and identity documents to syndicates for as little as RM300, form the backbone of these criminal networks.
Foo called on law enforcement to act decisively against them, noting that names and account details are already recorded in victims’ police reports.
Above all, he insists that banks must be held accountable when their fraud prevention systems fail, and that dismissing customer disputes on procedural grounds is no longer acceptable.
He noted that victims of online scams include professionals such as doctors, engineers and accountants proving that no demographic is immune.
“Every morning, Malaysians wake up wondering whether their hard-earned money is still safe in the bank – this must change,” he urged.
The public is advised to remain alert to unsolicited calls and suspicious links, and to report any suspected scam activity to the police without delay.
