by Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, March 1: A businessman has managed to recover his money amounting to RM1 million from a bank after the money was allegedly transferred out of his account without his knowledge.
Special Assistant to Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chief Chong Chieng Jen, Michael Kong Feng Nian, said that despite the happy ending for the victim identified as Mr Lee, they would continue to fight for better security features from the banks.
“We have successfully helped Mr Lee to retrieve his RM1 million unknowingly withdrawn from his bank account with Maybank,” he told reporters at a press conference at DAP headquarters here today.
“DAP will continue to pile pressure on Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and financial institutions to beef up their security and to provide better protection to all consumers.
“There are many other consumers who have been scammed and have yet to receive a refund of the hard-earned money which have been siphoned away without their approval or authorisation,” he added.
Kong shared that on Sunday, Mr Lee discovered his money of RM1 million in his Maybank account had been transferred out, without his knowledge.
“He immediately called the bank, and on Chong’s advice, called 997. On Monday, we accompanied him to Maybank and Celcom (the transferee account) to seek to retrieve his money and yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, his RM1 million was returned by Celcom and credited into his Maybank account,” he disclosed.
“Credit must be given where it is due, and we appreciate Maybank’s prompt response to address Mr Lee’s plight,” he opined.
However, Kong claimed that the fact that such a huge amount could be transferred out of one’s account without the account holder’s knowledge shows clearly that there is a security flaw in the bank’s system.
“Many questions remain unanswered, such as how such a huge transaction could happen.”
According to Kong, it is not normal to see RM500,000 being transferred away from one’s personal savings account because there are transfer limits in place to safeguard against such transactions.
“At the same time, how can the transfers take place when no OTP or notification was ever sent to Mr Lee?” he questioned.
“Chong has been apprised of the latest developments. He will still raise them in Parliament and push for answers from the relevant parties,” he further disclosed.
Mr Lee, who was present at the press conference, thanked DAP for their prompt action for helping get his hard-earned money back.
“This has taught me a lesson not to put large amounts of money into a single bank account.
“Despite no explanation from the bank of the matter, they only informed me that the money had been refunded into my account.
“I hope the authorities would conduct an investigation, and disclose the result as soon as possible,” he said. — DayakDaily
