KUALA LUMPUR: The sixteen Malaysians detained for links to a transnational scam syndicate targeting Singaporean victims were detained in a raid at Old Klang Road, says Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf.
The Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director said the 12 men and four women are aged between 23 and 42 and were arrested at an office complex on Jan 13.
"The office complex was used as a scam call centre," he said.
The raid was conducted following an exchange of information between the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF).
"We seized various items, including 36 mobile phones, five iPads, nine laptops, seven sets of documents, 10 vehicles, and RM7,800 cash."
Investigations showed the syndicate had been operating for about four months and was targeting Singaporean victims.
Comm Ramli said investigations are underway to identify the number of victims scammed and the losses they suffered.
"The syndicate members posed as Singaporean bank officers and contacted the victims,” he said.
Comm Ramli added that victims would be asked to verify their credit cards and informed of suspicious activity involving their bank account.
"The victims would deny such activity occurred, and then the call would be transferred to another syndicate member posing as a police officer,” he then said.
Comm Ramli added that the victims would subsequently be given various instructions on the basis of an “investigation” until they transfer their funds into a designated bank account," he said.
All suspects have since been charged under Section 120(B) of the Penal Code at the Jalan Duta Court Complex on Jan 16, Comm Ramli said.
"Cooperation between the PDRM and SPF is not only for this operation but is continuous to ensure that transnational crimes involving both countries are dealt with more effectively," he said.
It was previously reported that 16 Malaysians linked to a transnational scam syndicate were nabbed in Kuala Lumpur.
The SPF, together with PDRM, worked to dismantle the operation, which allegedly carried out impersonation scams targeting people in Singapore.
In a statement on Jan 24, the SPF said their Malaysian counterparts arrested the scammers on Jan 13.
They would masquerade as bank officers, usually claiming to be representatives from DBS, OCBC, UOB or Standard Chartered Bank, and call victims.
The fraudsters would then claim that a credit card had been issued in the victims' names or that the bank had detected suspicious or fraudulent transactions in their bank accounts.
The calls would then be transferred to another scammer, this time pretending to be a government official from the police or the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Further correspondence would take place on messaging applications like WhatsApp, and to maintain the ruse, the scammers would sometimes produce fake warrant cards or documents.
They would then accuse victims of criminal activities such as money laundering and get them to transfer money to bank accounts "designated" by the Government to assist in investigations.
Expressing his appreciation to his Malaysian counterparts, David Chew, director of the police's Commercial Affairs Department, said both sides would continue collaborating to robustly target and take down these transnational syndicates targeting Singapore victims.