Outrage over slap on the wrist punishment against UK scammers who conned people out of millions

March 18, 2023

Outrage over slap on the wrist punishment against UK scammers who conned people out of millions

KUALA LUMPUR:The six-month jail sentence imposed on two British citizens, who are the ringleaders of an international investment fraud syndicate that raked in RM200 million from victims in the United Kingdom and Australia, has caused public outrage.

Netizens said the slap on the wrist punishment was insufficient to deter scammers conning people out of millions of their hard-earned money.

They compared the lenient jail term imposed against the scammers to stiff punishments meted out against those who committed petty crimes.

Sessions Court judge Rozilah Salleh yesterday ordered Andrew Mark Peters and Darren Anthony McNicholas to six months in jail for cheating an individual out of RM600,000.

She also ordered backdated their sentences to begin from the date of arrest on Feb 21.

Peters, 55, was also ordered to pay RM180,000 fine and McNicholas, 51, RM140,000 fine. Both are to serve 22 months and 16 months in jail, respectively, if they fail to pay their fine.

Some netizens compared the punishment given to these scammers to that received by petty criminals who were given hefty jail terms for stealing food items.

DISYORKAN UNTUK ANDA :

On July 7 last year, the Marang magistrate’s court sentenced a mother of four to 14 months’ jail after she was found guilty of stealing two packets of Milo at a local supermarket on May 25.

On April 29, 2022, a single father who stole 18 packets of Milo to put food on the table, was jailed three months by the Magistrate’s Court in Sabah.

In February, a father of six was sentenced to five months’ jail by the magistrate’s court here for stealing groceries including two five-kilograms packets of rice.

Commenting on the New Straits Times’ Facebook post, John Tan wrote: “Six month later he will still have millions…. This is a promising job! All youngsters should enrol into this profession then! We have a good system here that encourage it… Well done justice!”

“(For) a tin of Milo, (a mother) was sentenced to 14 months in jail. Cheating RM600,000 just six months jail? Mind boggling! Can they appeal for a much heavier sentence?,” Lim AC said.

“Why only six months? Our own Malaysian stole two packs of rice for his family because family got no food ,gets longer prison terms. Who is the person who gave these scammers such good deal?,” Jenny Gallyot asked.

DISYORKAN UNTUK ANDA :

“Only six months? Is that all MACC or AG can charge them for? The raids and arrests have garnered international attention. Will this sentence be international news too? The loot far out surpass the punishment,” John Yap commented.

Ahmad Mahmood wrote: “Is that all. No wonder them scammers are not scared. The punishment meted out is minimal. Should be six years plus two strokes of the rotan.”

“Just six months sentence is like going on a honeymoon after stealing millions of money from people accounts,” Baway Lenjau James said.

It was previously reported that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had smashed the international investment scam syndicate , which had raked in a whopping RM200 million from victims in Australia and the United Kingdom.

The New Straits Times on March 16 reported that five major banks in the country have also come under the MACC radar for being used by international scammers to dupe victims, who transacted up to RM1 million a day after being conned.