KUALA LUMPUR: The government will table amendments to the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code to strengthen laws against online scams relating to mule accounts in this Parliamentary session.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said the amendments would include new offences related to actions against any party who allows their bank account to be used by others without authority and legitimate purpose.
She also said the proposed amendments would grant investigators the authority to order the seizure of bank accounts suspected of being involved in cybercrime activities.
"Currently the existing legislation does not cover any offence for the actions of account owners who allow their accounts to be used by others, nor is there any specific provision that can be used by the police to block the money of victims of online fraud once it has been transferred to the mule account.
"Both these amendments are expected to be brought and presented in this Parliamentary session after obtaining cabinet consideration in the near future," she said during Minister Question Time in Dewan Rakyat today.
Azalina was responding to a question from RSN Rayer (Pakatan Harapan-Jelutong) regarding the status of the proposed amendments to the law on mule accounts and how these changes could address the rising number of online financial fraud cases.
Meanwhile, Azalina said the government had recorded a loss of RM2,651,321,398.34 due to scam cases from 2022 up to June this year.
"It was also found that there was an overall increase in the total losses by 43.2 per cent from RM851,121,636.62 in 2022 to RM1,218,839,783.59 in 2023.
"The losses in 2024 amount to RM581,359,978.13," she added.