KUALA LUMPUR: Experts and consumer associations have lauded the government's move to draft a new act that can hold banks accountable should negligence arise in dealing with online fraud cases.
Universiti Sains Malaysia criminologist Datuk Dr P. Sundramoorthy said banks had a responsibility to protect their customers.
"This proposed law is good, I think it is fair to place greater accountability on banks," he told the New Straits Times.
Sundramoorthy, who is attached to the university's Centre for Policy Research, said banks had the means to invest in robust security systems and technology to prevent scams.
"This may involve multi-factor authentication, encryption, and other advanced security features to make it more difficult for scammers to gain unauthorised access to customer accounts.
"Financial institutions should also actively monitor customer accounts for any suspicious activities or transactions."
He said this could involve the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to detect patterns and anomalies that might indicate fraudulent behaviour.
Banks should also work closely with the authorities in information sharing, recovering funds, educating customers, and prosecuting scammers, he said.
"By investing in education, technology, monitoring, verification, collaboration, and support, they can make significant progress in preventing scams and ensuring the safety and trust of their customers."
Earlier today, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran said the government was drafting a new act to enhance digital security and combat online fraud.
He said through the proposed bill, banks could not evade responsibility if they were found to cause online fraud cases.
Meanwhile, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) chief executive officer T. Saravanan said Bank Negara Malaysia should take the lead in the new Act.
He said other banks must be obliged to follow suit in addressing the complaints brought up by clients to ensure that no case would be overlooked.
"Everything must be brought up to a task force which consists of independent stakeholders, especially Bank Negara, Finance Ministry, police, consumer movements or business associations," he said.
He added that Fomca received various calls from scam victims claiming that banking agencies were not very helpful.
"We've been receiving a lot of these kinds of complaints where the bank, they actually 'lepas tangan' (wash one's hands off).
"There were claims where the banks would say 'This is the consumers' mistake, the bank has nothing to do with this' and so on.
"Of course, the bank should provide improved services in terms of boosting their securities and ensuring whatever funds inside their bank are secure.
"As we know, Singapore is moving towards that (new act) and we hope Malaysia will take a similar approach to make sure banks are more responsible," he said.
MCA Public Service and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said the new act could help address fraud cases with banks working together with authorities.
However, he said, customers must also play their part to avoid being victims as there were also recurring scam cases involving the same individual.
"This is certainly a good move because we see the government can learn from other countries because bank fraud cases are not only faced by Malaysia.
"But the problem is that I have been receiving calls (from victims) about these online fraud cases hundreds of times yet they still do it.
"I don't know how to answer. Sometimes you say this and that must take responsibility, the bank must take responsibility, but what is the point when these victims never learn?" he told the New Straits Times.
He expressed his frustrations saying people still get duped into scam tactics despite numerous newspaper reports and warnings from authorities about it.