KUALA LUMPUR: The National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) has successfully blocked RM19 million from being transferred in online financial fraud cases and seized RM6 million to date, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said this is one of the successes of the NSRC, involving cooperation with the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre (NFCC), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the police, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), as well as financial institutions and the telecommunications industry.
"Since its establishment until October this year, a total of 140,474 calls were received by NSRC, 69,000 of which involved financial fraud cases," he said in reply to Suhaizan Kaiat (PH-Pulai) during Minister's Question Time.
Suhaizan wanted to know whether the government would review the money lending licences under the Housing and Local Government Ministry and how the government plans to put an end to scams and manipulations in the banking administration.
"The Communications Ministry, through MCMC, has managed to terminate 118,184 lines and block access to 9,474 fraudulent websites," he said.
Other measures taken to address online fraud include amendments to Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588), the drafting of the Online Safety Act (ONSA), as well as ongoing actions by the NSRC.
Meanwhile, in reply to Suhaizan's original question regarding the causes of the increase in cases and preventive measures for 361 suspected cases involved in unlicensed money-lending crimes detected within nine days starting from Nov 4, the prime minister said that the number involved was the result of Op Vulture, an integrated operation carried out by the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) simultaneously nationwide from Nov 4 to 12.
"The issue is indeed serious because, according to Asean records, the total value of all scam crimes amounts to US$64 billion," he said.
Anwar said that seven money-lending companies had also been raided for violating Regulation 15A(b) of the Moneylenders (Control & Licensing) Regulations (Amendment) 2024.
"These companies held the borrowers' bank cards, which complicates matters," he added.-- BERNAMA