Six women among nine held as cops bust fraud ring

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have busted the Planetrade investment fraud syndicate with the arrest of three men and six women, including a director of the company that operates the scheme.

Royal Malaysia Police secretary Datuk Noorsiah Mohd Saaduddin said the mastermind of the syndicate was charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code and Section 137(1) of the Financial Services Act 2013.

Meanwhile, the director of the company was charged under Section 109, read together with Section 420 of the Penal Code.

She said all arrested were locals, adding that seven have been released and would be made prosecution witnesses, Bernama reported.

“Some of the suspects were investors and victims of the scheme who had acted as authorised introducers, meaning they received a commission for bringing in more investors, “ she said in a statement yesterday.

She added that since January 2021, the Commercial Crime Investigation Department had received 92 police reports related to the scheme, involving losses of more than RM17.5mil.

Noorsiah said police have also frozen assets including 27 bank accounts with a total value of RM700,533, seized six vehicles estimated to be worth RM1.17mil and 11 million shares in four related companies.

Meanwhile, she urged those who had fallen victim to the scheme to immediately lodge a police report.

Earlier, the Malaysian International Humanitarian Organisation said about 300 victims who were duped by the syndicate had not filed a police report.