Sentul cops bust scam call centre targeting UK victims

KUALA LUMPUR: A scam call centre here that targeted victims from the United Kingdom has been busted in a police raid.

Sentul OCPD Asst Comm Ahmad Sukarno Mohd Zahari said the raid was conducted on Tuesday (Feb 6) on a condominium unit in Taman Wahyu in Jinjang.

They arrested eight people, seven men and a woman aged between 16 and 28, he told a press conference on Thursday (Feb 8).

"We also seized nine computers, 19 mobile phones, two routers, two modems, a keyring and an access card to the unit.

"Preliminary investigations showed that the syndicate offered fake jobs to victims based in the United Kingdom.

"They would send random messages through social media touting job adverts, using UK phone numbers," he said.

Interested victims would then be instructed to create an account on a website called "Globesailor v88" where they then had to "like" holiday package advertisements.

Victims were also required to make deposits before they could get the "jobs" and promised commissions ranging from 0.5% to 5%.

All transactions were done using cryptocurrency, ACP Ahmad Sukarno added.

It is believed that the group could rake in around US$3,000 (about RM14,300) per day.

"The group only started operations earlier this year. We are still investigating to determine if other call centres are linked to the syndicate," he said.