Keep Your Money Under Mattresses if Banks are Not Responsible  

YB Dato’ Sri Azalina Othman Said recently stated that banks should bear partial responsibility for scam-related transactions. 

She stressed that for individuals who entrust their savings to major financial institutions only to see them vanish, it might seem safer to keep their cash under their mattresses instead.

Keep Money Under Mattresses if Banks Can’t Protect It

Azalina supported the proposal to impose tougher penalties, including caning, on scammers but stressed that harsher punishment alone would not solve the problem.

"Bank Negara has issued numerous public service announcements, and the police have repeatedly warned the public, yet… https://t.co/0TgRQDybVp

— BFM News (@NewsBFM) September 8, 2026

Having additional penalties on scammers such as caning is something that is being discussed. Financial institutions must be able to protect their customers from falling victim to such scams where their life savings disappear in an instant. 

My guess is that you mean “loophole”

— Dato’ Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria (@HanafiahDato) September 9, 2026

Others state that if someone lost their cash due to clicking a link, the bank should be responsible for this. A rare instance, but it’s still possible due to certain loopholes with some online banking systems. 

Nope. Its the phone companies that need to be more vigilant. How the hack hackers can get your details and phone numbers. Address the source not the symptom silly.

— space cadet (@NormanAbdu80531) September 8, 2026

Additionally, users say telcos have to bear some responsibility to this as how are these individuals able to get the personal phone numbers of hundreds or thousands of people. 

That is not the only way ppl get scam. You do know that there are malware hacks & quishing. The money is transfered quitely in the background without verification from account owners and account owners is tricked into paying into another account after QR scan.

— Tamingsari (@Tamingsari2020) September 9, 2026

Following that, some say that the victims should be more vigilant with digital transactions and possible scammers asking them to transfer money. Investment scams are one of the most lucrative scams out there.