Chong slams bank, BNM, e-wallet firms for failing to protect elderly Kuching woman from RM15,000 scam debt

Borneo Post

26-04-2025

Chong (left) speaks to the elderly victim at his office.
KUCHING (April 26): A 75-year-old woman has been saddled with RM15,000 in credit card debt after falling victim to a scam in April last year.
Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen, alleged that three local financial institutions had 'facilitated' the scam, while Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) failed to take responsibility for the matter.
Chong said the victim, identified as Hii, also lost her meagre savings of RM1,350 and RM300 in Rahmah Cash Aid (STR) payments received in September and December last year, after the bank used the funds to repay her credit card debt.
'On April 22, 2024 at around 1.30pm, Hii received a scam call. After speaking to the caller, Hii realised that it might be a scam and thus she immediately went to the bank at Jalan Song Thian Cheok here to inform of the suspected scam and request for stopping whatever transactions charged to her credit card.
'Hii was informed by a bank officer that there was no transaction recorded in the system. Nevertheless, she terminated the credit card,' Chong said in a statement today.
Despite her prompt action, Chong said Hii later discovered through her bank statement in May that two scam transactions — RM4,949 and RM9,948.50 — had been charged to her credit card via two e-wallet platforms.
Although she had lodged a dispute and protested the charges, the bank refused to cancel the amount. Without her consent, RM1,350 was deducted from her savings account.
Fearing further losses, Hii withdrew all her remaining savings.
However, Chong said the bank later withheld her STR payments and redirected the funds to cover the scam-related debt, adding that the bank had allowed the transactions to go through even after the victim had reported the scams.
'Despite Hii's immediate action in reporting the scam to the bank, there was no immediate action taken by the bank to inform the National Scam Response Centre to freeze the scam transactions.
'The bank did not take immediate action to inform the e-wallet platforms of the scam transactions until sometime in May last year when Hii went to the bank again,' he said.
Chong added that the bank eventually denied any wrongdoing in February this year but could not explain why no immediate steps were taken to prevent the scam after Hii's swift complaint.
He also criticised the two e-wallet platforms involved, accusing them of negligence for allowing scammers to exploit their systems and failing to act even after being informed of the fraudulent activities.
'If e-wallet companies were so irresponsible as to allow scammers to use their platforms and after being informed of the scams, continue to take no action for the return of the scammed proceeds, such e-wallet companies ought to cease to operate.
'Their continued existence will only facilitate and encourage more scam activities and make more people fall into such scams,' he said.
Turning his attention to BNM, Chong said it was 'most unacceptable' for the central bank, as the regulator of banks and e-wallet operators, to have taken no punitive action against the parties involved, as the victim is an elderly B40 lady.
'As a law-abiding citizen, she is worried about the credit card debt. To put an old lady to such stress and worries after she was scammed, it is thus a sin for BNM to sit back and take no action and for the bank and the two e-wallet companies to act as if no scam has been committed.
'The least that the bank should do is to cancel off her credit card debt and take up a legal action against the two e-wallet companies,' he said.
Chong pledged to continue fighting for reforms in the financial sector to ensure financial institutions act more responsibly and are held accountable to the public.