JOHOR BARU: Nineteen Chinese nationals and a Taiwanese have been charged with alleged involvement in a love scam here.
The accused – Wu Wen Jung, He Jie, Guang Liang, Jin Yi Hao, Zhang Wei, Liu Zhi Rong, Li Ya Xuan, Ran You, Zhang Shi Han, Zhao Run Qiang, Lu Ye Ri, Li Peng, Yu Liang, Liu Bing, Liu Lin, Li Jia Gang, Chen Kui Peng, Zhi Xiao Bo, Zhao Ke Yu and Wang Yin Cheng, aged 21 to 36 – claimed trial in a Magistrate's Court here on Thursday (Oct 10).
They allegedly committed the offence at a house on Jalan Saujana 2, Horizon Hills in Iskandar Puteri at around 12.30pm on Sept 23.
According to the charge, read out in Mandarin, the 20 men were alleged to have been parties to a criminal conspiracy in which they mutually agreed to commit an unlawful act by deceiving victims through a love scam.
They allegedly duped victims to hand over their money, an offence under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
After the charge was read out, each man pleaded not guilty before Magistrate Hidayatul Syuhada Shamsudin.
She then set bail at RM8,000 with two Malaysian sureties for each accused and fixed Nov 18 for next mention of the case as well as submission of documents.
She also ordered each accused to report to the nearest police station once a month until disposal of the case.
DPP R. Nevina prosecuted the case while lawyers Goh Sze Han and Ahmad Yusri Ahmad Fuad represented all the accused.
Earlier, Johor police chief Comm Datuk M. Kumar said the premises in question had been turned into a call centre mainly for job scams targeting victims overseas.
The police raided the premises on the date of arrest, and seized computers and mobile phones among other equipment used by the suspects.
Comm Kumar also said the syndicate would find their targets online and also employ love scam tactics to cheat certain victims.
