Over 40 foreigners detained in raids on scam call centres in Malaysia

Immigration Department director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said the raids were conducted at the call centres, located at luxury condominiums at about 11.30am on Wednesday (Feb 19).    

"Those detained were 14 male Chinese nationals, 15 men and four women from Indonesia, a man and two women from Myanmar, two Bangladeshi men, two women from Laos and six Thai women.

"Those detained were aged between 23 and 54," he said in a statement on Thursday (Feb 20).

Various items were seized including four laptops, 88 mobile phones, 26 sim cards and RM100,000 cash, he said.  

"We collected actionable intelligence for three weeks before raiding the residential units.

"The scammers rented the units," he added.

Zakaria said the scammers would dupe victims by "selling" stock shares, gold and properties online.

"They used social media and chat applications such as Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp and Telegram to find victims.

"They not only targeted locals but foreigners from their respective home countries as well.

"We believe they also operated bogus online gambling," he said.

Zakaria said the suspects would send offers for the items being sold straight to the victims' mobile phones randomly.  

"When the victims showed interest, they were required to transfer funds to an account given by the syndicate members.

"The victims realised they had been duped when the seller could not be reached after the money had been transferred," he said.

"Each syndicate member is paid between RM2,500 and RM3,500 monthly, he said.

He also reminded the public not to harbour undocumented foreigners as it is a serious offence.

The Star

Asia News Network