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KUCHING, July 10: Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) should provide comprehensive support system to assist scam victims deal with mental trauma after losing their savings.
In a statement today, Michael Kong Feng Nian, a special assistant to Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen, noted that the establishment of the National Scam Response Centre (997) is not enough as BNM should also include counselling and mental health assistance to aid victims in their recovery.
Kong also shared two photos of a WhatsApp conversation from a victim identified as Mr Low, who had recently lost his savings totalling RM38,000.
The victim explained that apart from losing his savings, what came after was mental trauma in response to which he had even considered committing suicide due to lack of compassion from others and lack of sensitivity from relevant parties to deal with scam victims.
“The money I can make back.
“But the trauma will take a while to get over, and it will persist more when there aren’t as many safeguards to scams and when society views scam victims as foolish, rather than how efficient scamming rings are.
“I don’t want what happened to me, to happen to anyone else,” Mr Low wrote to Kong via WhatsApp.
Just like other scam cases, the scammer in Mr Low’s case posed as a police officer and fabricated a story accusing the victim of being involved in a crime before coercing the latter to fill in his personal details and bank account information on a fake BNM website.
“Tragically, within hours, Mr Low discovered that all the funds in his bank account, totalling RM38,000, had been fraudulently withdrawn.
“Despite filing police reports and complaints with his bank, he was unable to recover his hard-earned money.
“This incident has had a profound impact on Mr Low’s mental well-being, leading to depression and even thoughts of suicide,” Kong said. — DayakDaily
