Kuala Lumpur, 2nd May 2023 - The idea of adopting a 48-hour “cooling period” when money above a threshold is transferred to new bank accounts might give scam victims enough time to pull their money back from the brink before it reaches the greasy hands of scammers.
Cybersecurity law expert and lawyer Derek John Fernandez said that is one of the ways authorities and financial institutions can stop a financial scam.
He said that as victims usually realise they are scammed after 24 hours, there is another 24-hour window for banks to stop the transaction.
“The good-funds model, which has a cooling-off period for first time transactions between individual accounts, is practised in some countries such as Australia to ensure that there is no fraudulent activity before funds are transferred for the first time.
“Such a period will enable a person to inform the bank of a scam transaction to a mule account and stop the payment,” said Fernandez.
“At the moment, in Malaysia, a cooling-off period is only observed for the first-time enrolment of online banking services or secure devices. During this time, no online banking activity is allowed to be conducted,” he added.
Read further on The Star’s article attached.