KUALA LUMPUR: Police arrested 14 individuals suspected of being involved in a call centre syndicate involved in online fraud activities, in a raid on eight luxury condominium units in Persiaran Stonor, here, on Wednesday.
Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said those arrested consisted of 12 foreigners, namely a Turkiye man, seven Chinese men and four women and two local men, all aged between 28 and 52 years old.
“In the raid, police also seized RM4.8 million in cash, a sum of various foreign currencies, two Toyota Alphards, as well as various gadgets and luxury branded goods worth a total of RM7 million,” he said at a CCID press conference here, today.
He said initial investigations found that the syndicate had been active since October last year and was involved in online gaming scams that offered prizes in the form of gadgets such as phones, computers and luxury brand items, targeting victims among Chinese citizens.
The syndicate members, he said, had to join chatting applications and forums in China related to online gaming, before inviting new players from the country to join their platform which supposedly offered bigger and more luxurious winning prizes.
“Interested victims will be asked to download the application before being instructed to make a payment to participate in the competition.
“After that, the victim was again charged an additional fee to continue playing, but after the payment was made, the syndicate could no longer be contacted,“ he said.
Investigations also found that all the luxury condominium units, estimated to be worth RM16 million, were owned by one of the syndicate members who is a Chinese citizen.
He said the police believe the syndicate is involved in similar criminal activities in the Philippines, and used the profits made there to buy assets in Malaysia.
All 12 foreign individuals were remanded for four days until Sunday, while two other local individuals were remanded for two days until today to be investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
