Malaysians continue to lose millions to online love scams

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said most of the victims are lonely women who willingly shared their bank account numbers or transferred funds to a “friend” whom they met online.

“The modus operandi is almost the same. The profiles of the culprits are white male, educated, professionals and good looking to attract women.

“Victims fall prey to sweet words. Some of the victims have been widowed for several years and are looking for love,” said Zahid during a question and answer session in Parliament today.

A question was asked by Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz (BN-Tanah Merah) on steps taken by the Home Ministry to curb online love scams.

Zahid said in 2012, 1,905 women had reported losing RM35.6 million and 467 arrests were made by police.

In 2013, 1,015 women fell prey to these scams losing RM55.5 million and police arrested 610 suspects.

In 2014, the numbers went up to 1,769 victims, losing RM60.1 million and police arrested 417 culprits.

Last year, 1,015 women lost RM55.5 million while the police arrested 610 people involved in the scams.

As for the first quarter of this year, 794 cases were reported with victims losing RM33.4 million.

Zahid said several measures had been taken to reduce the numbers. The first was to work with Bank Negara to check on any suspicious accounts. The second was to tighten foreign student visas to ensure only genuine students are allowed into the country.

Zahid also urged non-governmental organisations to come forward and help the victims besides creating awareness of online scams.

Auditor-General’s report on 1MDB for PAC’s eyes only, says Azalina

The Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB was classified under the Official Secrets Act 1972 to ensure no leakage of information during the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) proceedings on the matter, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Her written reply was a response to Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz (DAP-Raub), who had asked the prime minister to justify the classification of the 1MDB Audit Report under the Official Secrets Act, and state why the report had not been given to the MPs in Parliament.

“The 1MDB Audit Report by the National Audit Department was only shown to the Public Accounts Committee in line with the Cabinet’s decision on March 4, 2016,” Azalina said in her reply.

“The PAC used the 1MDB Audit Report as a reference for the PAC report in regard to the management of 1MDB that was tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2016.”

There have been multiple calls by various parties to declassify the report, most recently by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (BN-Gua Musang), in a statement last week (Razaleigh: No excuse to keep AG’s report secret).

Tengku Razaleigh had said it was necessary in the wake of reports that deletions had been made to a report by the Public Accounts Committee, which placed the integrity and standing of the House at stake.

Rafizi not protected by Whistleblower Act after revealing info publicly

To another question, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri replied that Rafizi Ramli (PKR-Pandan) was not protected by the Whistleblower Act because he had revealed information publicly in a press conference.

“Those intending to be whistleblowers need to fulfill the requirements set out under Section 6 of The Whistleblowers Act 2010, that any exposure of wrongdoing must be made directly to the enforcement agencies in charge under the Act.”

This was in a written reply to Lim Guan Eng (DAP-Bagan), who had asked the prime minister to explain why Rafizi  was not protected by the Act after his arrest last month under the Official Secrets Act 1972.

“The open revelation of information had exposed his identity and caused him to be ineligible as a whistleblower protected by the Act,” Nancy told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Rafizi, who is also PKR’s secretary-general, was arrested by police last month as he exited the Parliament compound.

He was arrested under Section 8 of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for alleged wrongful communication of government secrets.