Victims of online fraud syndicates to receive money back within three to six months after case closes

The Parliament of Malaysia (file photo)

By Dayak Daily Team

KUCHING, July 29: Victims of online fraud syndicates will receive their money back within three to six months.

According to a TVS news report today, Home Affairs Minister (KDN) Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that the victims’ money, which the police could track, will be ‘kept’ while waiting for the trial to be concluded in court.

He explained that the matter is based on the provisions of the existing law of Article 413 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

“This is a section that the police can use to return money to the victim; however it will be temporarily ‘parked’ (save) until the case is completed,” he said at the Dewan Rakyat in Kuala Lumpur today.

Saifuddin said this when answering a supplementary question from Senator Datuk Dominic Lau Hoe Chai, who wanted to know details of the Home Affairs Ministry’s guarantee of refunding money belonging to scam victims, the majority of whom are pensioners, and whether the government provides counselling services.

Commenting further, Saifuddin said that the trend of online fraud is increasing and involves victims of various backgrounds, thus, creating a need for the government to tighten existing laws.

“Online fraud affects everyone regardless of race, including retirees, groups of professionals, lawyers, pilots, and retired teachers, after police analysed the victims.

“Because we already know about victim profiling, the elements of counseling and prevention are important components. We have outreach programmes, seminars, talks and (involvement) of the media to spread the message widely to the people so they don’t get caught (in scams),” he said.

He added that the police are also examining some of the constraints faced in combating online fraud, including the limited operation hours of the prevention team.

“In addition, KDN also established a scientific data unit to analyse various data that provide the authorities with an overview of crime trends that are expected to occur,” he said when answering Senator Zurainah Musa’s question. — DayakDaily