Scam ring caught by cops

Nabbed from an international crime den in Serdang

KUALA LUMPUR: Police uncovered yet another international scamming den just a day after busting a similar syndicate in Kajang Country Heights.

The syndicates were allegedly involved in illegal activities involving billions of ringgit.

In yesterday's raid, a police team from the Federal Commercial Crime headquarters ambushed four luxury bungalows in a gated community in Desa Serdang.

Police arrested 83 people including two local men in the 11.30am raid.

The others arrested were 67 men and eight women from Taiwan as well as one man and five women from China.

All the suspects were aged between 20 and 35.

Syndicate members in three of the four bungalows were preparing to evacuate the premises when the raid was executed.

Federal Commercial Crime director Comm Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan said police moved in after observing the international syndicate's activities for more than a month.

“This syndicate was only involved in Macau scams unlike the one busted in Kajang Country Heights on Thursday,” he said when met at the scene.

The syndicate members are believed to have swindled billions of ringgit annually by calling victims in China and Taiwan and telling them that they had summonses for defaulting bank loans or credit card payments.

Posing as police or court officials, syndicate members would tell victims to telephone the bank for more information.

They would then intercept the calls via Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology and tell the victims to make payments to avoid being dragged to court.

Comm Syed Ismail also said all the suspects had entered Malaysia from early to mid March and were still undergoing training.

Sources say the syndicates did not con people in the countries they operated from to avoid being easily traced by police.

He added that although it appeared as if several different syndicates were operating, all were headed by the same mastermind from China.

It is learnt the syndicates have branches all over South East Asia, including Bangkok, Indonesia, Philippines and Cambodia.

Taiwan and China police are expected to be in the country in a few days' time to assist their Malaysian counterpart with investigations.

Sources say the Chinese and Taiwanese suspects would be handed over to the police from their respective countries.

The 144 people arrested in the earlier Kajang Country Heights raid have been remanded for a week to facilitate investigations.