Miri MP urges stricter measures after elderly couple loses RM120,000 to fraud

MIRI (Sept 10): An elderly couple here suffered losses amounting to RM120,000 due to the unauthorised use of their credit and debit cards between June and August this year.

Miri MP Chiew Choon Man said the couple, who only wanted to be identified as Mr Lo and Mdm Kong, filed four police reports and sought his advice on the matter.

“On June 28, Kong visited Urban Transformation Centre (UTC) Miri to renew her road tax, but was subsequently unable to complete the process payment as her credit card had reached its limit.

“Upon checking her bank statement, she discovered several unauthorised transactions on her Touch ‘n Go account (TnG),” he said during a press conference here yesterday.

Chiew added that on July 30, Kong had attempted to pay for her insurance online using a different credit card, but was unable to complete the payment as the card had also reached its limit.

“Upon checking with the bank, Kong had once again discovered several unauthorised transactions on her TnG account,” he said.

Moreover, Chiew said Lo had received a call from his bank on Aug 6 regarding a RM5,000 transaction to a TnG account.

“Lo informed the bank that he had not made the transaction and requested they stop the action. However, when checking his bank statement after, Lo found that the payment had still been processed,” he said.

Furthermore, on Aug 19, Kong attempted to use her debit card for an insurance payment, but found that the card had also exceeded its limit.

Upon checking her bank statement, she was shocked to discover multiple unauthorised transactions made in August, including another RM5,000 pending payment for a TnG account, added Chiew.

“Kong informed me that she had never made any such transactions and has no knowledge of how they occurred.

“However, when Kong contacted the bank, they informed her that a Transaction Authorisation Code (TAC) had been sent to her phone for verification,” he said.

In this regard, Chiew called on Bank Negara Malaysia to strengthen internet banking security measures to prevent such incidents from recurring.

He emphasised that there is no standardised standard operating procedures (SOPs) across banks regarding transaction authorisation.

“Some banks call to verify transactions, others send TAC number via SMS messages. There are also banks that require authorisation through their mobile app,” he said.

Chiew said he will raise the issue in the upcoming parliament session and urged the federal government to adopt stricter measures meant to combat internet banking fraud.

In the meantime, Lo advised the public to regularly check their bank statements to detect unauthorised transactions early, and take immediate action if necessary.