Malaysia is having a massive headache over online scams. The Inspector-General of Police recently came out complaining that outdated laws simply don't scare scam syndicate masterminds, who keep getting released or hit with slaps on the wrist. The police made their stance pretty clear: just bring out the rotan and give these bloodsuckers a proper caning. No sooner had the words left his mouth than Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Law Reform, Azalina Othman Said, stepped up on September 8 to say the police's suggestion had merit, even hinting that they could consider even tougher measures to stamp out the scourge.
Still, folks on the street are wondering if a few lashes are really going to stop the scammers. Even the minister admitted that harsh laws alone aren't enough—the banks that help move the money and take dirty cash need to feel some real pain, too. In her view, you can't dump all the fraud risk onto ordinary people; the banks themselves need to upgrade their monitoring systems and properly flag and block suspicious transactions.
Walk down any street in Kuala Lumpur, and you’ll see people coming and going from ATM machines while getting scam texts on their phones every few days. Local media report almost daily on someone losing their entire retirement savings. Now that the police and top officials are finally getting serious about changing the law, everyone's keeping their eyes wide open to see if it actually forces big banks to take responsibility and keeps everyday folks from falling into traps.
