KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — The police can now ban transactions and confiscate money from bank accounts suspected to be mule accounts, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran said today.

Addressing Parliament, Kulasegaran said this was possible after July’s changes to the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code came into effect on October 30 – allowing the law to prevent the victim’s money from being transferred to another account.

“This amendment allows the police to not only seize, but also prevent the property from being used for other transactions, with the aim of preventing the withdrawal of money from victims of online scams from mule accounts.

“And it will further supplement the existing provisions, namely section 435 of Act 593 (Criminal Procedure Code) regarding the power of the police to seize property suspected of being stolen, including fraud, which teaches more about physical property,” said the Deputy Minister, in response to Question by MP Kepong Lim Lip Eng (Pakatan Harapan-DAP).

In response to Tumpat MP Mumtaz Md Nawi’s (Perikatan Nasional-PAS) supplementary question, Kulasegaran also said it was possible for victims to get their money back, citing a case in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Police officers with the rank of sergeant and above will have the power to freeze transactions or seize money suspected of being involved in financial crime.

However, the police can only freeze accounts if:

• There was reason to believe that a crime had been committed.
• There was reason to suspect that the property was or was being used for the purpose of committing an offence.
• There is reason to believe that the property is evidence of a crime.

Additionally, he said a proposed online safety law would require online platform service providers to remove content reported as harmful and content suspected of being involved in financial crimes pending an investigation.

“In the new bill, online financial crimes are classified as serious and will be prioritized.

“If certain content is reported as an online financial crime, platform providers have a responsibility to temporarily remove the content until further investigation is conducted,” Kulasegaran said.

The National Fraud Response Center said it received 131,036 complaints from October 2022 to September 2024, and of that total, 52,836 were calls from victims of fraud and scams.

Singapore too recently introduced a bill to authorize the police to issue restraining orders to banks, limiting certain financial transactions for people suspected of being victims of fraud.

This bill would cover money transfers, use of ATM facilities as well as all credit facilities.