KUALA LUMPUR: Three syndicates have been busted this month in large-scale operations by the police's Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID).
Its director Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said the syndicates were all involved in cheating, ranging from mule account holder recruitment to bogus investments to dealing in non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The first raid, conducted on March 19 in Segambut, saw a suspected call centre busted.
“Checks of the seized items led us to believe that the centre was part of a syndicate’s financial unit that managed its bank accounts," he told a press conference at Bukit Aman here on Wednesday (March 27).
The accounts belonged to Singapore-based mules, he added.
“The group would (recruit) mule account holders in Singapore and also move money from one mule account to another,” he said, adding that the the process was called “layering”.
Five locals aged between 24 and 28 were arrested in the raid.
The second raid on Monday (March 25) in Jalan Ampang was the result of a police report by a Taiwanese businessman who claimed he had been scammed in a bogus investment scheme.
“The complainant was enticed by a friend on WeChat in January to join an ‘online purchasing investment scheme’ via a company called Amazon Joint Operation.
"He was convinced that this was a branch of the US-based Amazon and was promised 10% returns,” he said.
A total of RM331,000 was transferred to a cryptocurrency e-wallet but no returns followed.
“Nineteen people were caught in the raid on Monday, aged between 22 and 55.
"Investigations showed that the group had only been operating at the premises for roughly a month and was in the process of constructing a platform to promote the investment scheme to Chinese nationals,” he said, adding that all the suspects were remanded until Friday (March 29).
Also on Monday, police busted an online investment scam centre in Jalan Pinang.
The syndicate was found to have used social media platforms such as Discord and X to deal in NFTs.
The group would act as key opinion leaders (KOL) in the NFT trading space and used an online platform to facilitate digital trading.
“Preliminary investigations showed that the syndicate had been involved in unapproved transactions to obtain profits.
"Inspections also showed that all syndicate members had confessed to exploiting ewallet accounts for monetary gain.
“In addition, transaction records showed suspicious activities from the ewallet numbers found,” he said.
Seven suspects were arrested in that raid and remanded until Friday, he added.
