Rich facade of scam call centres

Syndicates take their business to new heights by using luxury apartments

PETALING JAYA: Syndicates have been renting apartments in affluent parts of cities around the country to set up “call centres” to dupe people.

In Johor, police have to date broken up at least two gangs with the arrest of more than a dozen suspects in a series of raids in the state capital city.

The arrest of about 12 locals, including women, at two apartments a few days ago in Johor Baru was the largest.

Subsequently, police carried out more raids and arrested a few gang members, bringing the total to at least 15 suspects.

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Sources said this syndicate has been targeting both locals and Singaporeans.

Since then, authorities have remanded all the suspects, who range in age from their 20s to 40s, to aid in the investigations.

Following the seizure of a variety of items from the suspects, including cellphones, SIM cards, bank cards, passports, and other items, it has come to light that the syndicate, which has been operating for some time, has been using Singapore cellphone numbers to deceive Singaporeans.

In the second case, a team of officers raided another apartment in the city and picked up a man in his 30s, and sources say police recovered dozens of Singaporean SIM cards from the suspect.

It is learnt that police were in touch with their counterparts in Singapore to ascertain the losses or the victims who could have fallen prey to these gangs.

It is learnt that so far, at least one suspect has been handed over to Singapore police to help in their investigations.

When contacted, a Bukit Aman official confirmed the arrests, and officers from the commercial crimes investigations department were carrying out investigations under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.

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The official advised the public, especially retirees, to be wary when doing business with people they only knew online or via calls.

The official said people should also never click on links on social media or reveal their banking details to anyone, especially those who request for online forms to be filled up.

The people are always advised to use the Semak Mule mobile app or visit https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my to determine if the bank accounts or phone numbers in question are associated with suspicious activities.

In Kuala Lumpur, syndicates are also using luxury condominiums and apartments as bases of operations for scam and gambling syndicates.

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In June, Wangsa Maju police busted two operations supplying online gambling software.

The group had been operating out of a luxury apartment along Jalan Tun Razak and were hiding their illicit activities behind registered companies.

In May, Dang Wangi police arrested 13 foreigners after they had used units in a luxury condominium in Jalan Ceylon as call centres.

The group had been targeting victims in England and China, with the suspects acting as “customer service officers”.

The Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department crippled another online scam syndicate in March after six foreigners were arrested.

A luxury condominium along Jalan U-Thant was raided following complaints that they had set up a call centre inside a unit at the condominium.