Gov’t researching legal remedies to get online scam victims refunds, other protections

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The Senate was informed today that the government is researching a number of legal provisions that could be used or altered to allow victims of online fraud to get their money refunded.

The Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing, and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, as well as the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, are among the laws being reviewed, according to Ramkarpal Singh, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform).

“Apart from that, the government has also and will implement measures to combat this crime by increasing efforts and cooperation with international authorities to ensure that further action can be taken against criminals who are abroad,” Singh told the senate.

“Also, increasing the capabilities of the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) pertaining to operations, manpower resources, centralized data systems, office infrastructure facilities, technical equipment, and financial analysis systems,” he added.

Singh was responding to a question from Senator Datuk Husain Awang during the oral question-and-answer session.

Husain wanted to know what steps the government was taking to combat the growing problem of online fraud.

Ramkarpal stated that integrated enforcement actions could be implemented through the NSRC’s operations, which combine the workforce and expertise of various agencies, including banking institutions and telecommunications companies.

“These include tracking suspicious financial transactions, tracking phone calls used by scammers, blocking the flow of proceeds (fraud) and cancelling phone numbers used by scammers,” he said.

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