Taiwanese men nabbed for trying to set up scam call centre

KUALA LUMPUR: Four Taiwanese men wanted in their country for organised crime and fraud were caught by police here while trying to set up a scam call centre.

Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said they were caught with three local men and a local woman following raids on two premises in Kuala Lumpur on Jan 30.

“These arrests were made thanks to our cooperation with the Taiwanese police. We were on alert several days before they entered the country,” he told reporters yesterday.

He said investigations found that all the suspects, aged between 31 and 44, were trying to establish a “fraud call centre” in Malaysia.

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“We also confiscated items from the syndicate, including 12 mobile phones, a set of documents, three passports, two access cards and two cars. The four men are wanted in Taiwan for involvement in organised crime and fraud,” he said, adding that they had been handed over to the Immigration Department.

Meanwhile, Comm Ramli said Malaysians lost RM558.6mil to scames within the first six weeks of this year, compared to RM181.6mil during the same period last year.

In another success story, he said police also crippled an international fraud syndicate that offered online investments to European citizens following the arrest of 49 individuals in a raid in Jalan Bukit Bintang here on Feb 6.

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Comm Ramli said the syndicate is believed to be involved in forex investment fraud targeting citizens of France, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

“The syndicate, which has been operating for six months, is believed to be sending random short messages via Telegram and the Ria Capital website.

“After the victims express interest in the investment offer, they will be taught to invest in the scheme,” he said, adding that police arrested 31 men and 18 women aged between 20 and 41.

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“Two of the suspects are Malaysians, while the rest are from Guinea, Algeria, Togo, Ukraine, Morocco, Mauritius, Cameroon, Congo, Tunisia, Armenia, Senegal, Haiti, Djibouti, Madagascar, Ivory Coast and Chad,” he said.

Comm Ramli said the two Malaysians played a role as facilitators and helped the syndicate move around.

“Some of the foreigners were believed to have misused their student visas; others overstayed.

The two Malaysians have been released on bail while a foreign woman was also released on police bail because she was pregnant, while the remaining suspects have been remanded under the Immigration Act.