By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, April 26: Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen has slammed Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Maybank, and two e-wallet companies for what he called a “sinful” failure to protect a low-income elderly woman from falling victim to a scam that left her saddled with RM15,000 in credit card debt.
Chong revealed that the 75-year-old woman, known as Madam Hii, was allegedly scammed in April 2024 via transactions involving Maybank Berhad, TNG eWallet, and BigPay Malaysia — all entities regulated by BNM.
Despite her immediate action to alert Maybank about the suspected fraud within one hour of the scam call, no preventive measures were taken, and the scam transactions were allowed to proceed.
“The poor lady not only ended up burdened with RM15,000 debt, but even had her hard-earned savings of RM1,350 and her government financial aid of RM300 under the Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) programme wrongfully deducted by Maybank to offset the disputed credit card charges,” Chong said in a press statement today.
According to the chronology shared by Chong, Hii rushed to Maybank at Jalan Song Thian Cheok branch after receiving a suspicious call on April 22, 2024. She was initially told there were no transactions recorded but proceeded to terminate her credit card as a precaution.
However, by May 2024, her statement revealed two unauthorised charges — RM4,949 paid to TNG eWallet and RM9,948.50 paid to BigPay Malaysia.
Despite filing dispute forms and repeated protests, Maybank refused to cancel the transactions. Worse still, Maybank allegedly deducted money from her savings account without authorisation and seized subsequent STR government aid payments meant for her basic living expenses.
Chong highlighted Maybank’s systemic failures, pointing out that the bank did not freeze the transactions or notify the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) or the two e-wallet companies immediately, even though the scam was reported within an hour.
Instead, Maybank only acted much later when Hii herself returned to the bank for updates.
“In February 2025, Maybank denied responsibility but failed to explain why complain was lodged with one hour of the scam and yet it allowed the scam charge to go through without informing the two e-wallet companies. It also failed to explain why it did not inform the two e-wallet companies of the scam transaction upon first available time,” he added.
Both TNG eWallet and BigPay were also criticised for allowing scammers to use their platforms and for failing to take swift action to recover the stolen funds once informed of the scam.
“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.” Chong stressed.
He added that it is most unacceptable for BNM, as the regulatory authority, to take no punitive measures against these e-wallet companies and banks for allowing the scammers to use their platform to scam unsuspecting rakyat.
“To put a 75-year-old B40 citizen to bear such stress and anxiety over a scam she tried so hard to stop is a moral failing. It is thus a sin for BNM to sit back and allow banks and e-wallet companies to act as if no scam was committed,” he said.
Chong demanded that Maybank immediately cancel Hii’s debt and initiate legal proceedings against TNG eWallet and BigPay to recover the funds.
He also pledged to continue pushing for sweeping reforms in the financial sector to ensure banks and e-wallet providers act responsibly towards ordinary Malaysians. — DayakDaily
