The National Scam Response Centre has now been placed fully under the management of the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) with immediate effect. This was announced by the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
This step has been taken as a strategy to strengthen the response to online fraud crimes which are increasingly prevalent. Under the new structure, the 997 helpline is maintained and will continue to operate 24 hours a day to enable quick responses to be given to fraud victims.
It is understood that calls made by victims will now be automatically recorded as police reports without having to physically attend the police station as before. Through this improved system, complete information will be collected by officers at the NSRC call centre before the bank is contacted to take appropriate action, including freezing the accounts suspected of being involved.
So far, 500 calls have been reported to be received every day by the NSRC, thus showing a significant increase in online fraud incidents which is increasingly worrying.