KLUANG: They scroll through people’s social media accounts and then impersonate friends who are in urgent need of financial assistance.
All their victims are Singaporeans and the group has duped their victims of tens of thousands of ringgit.
The scam came to an end when police raided three apartments in Iskandar Puteri and nabbed 10 suspects several days ago.
An official said at least six of the suspects, in their 20s and 40s, had past criminal records.
“They usually go through people’s social media accounts and try to contact the victim’s friends online.
“They then impersonate the person and ask for help, cooking up a sad story about urgently needing cash for the family or to treat an illness,” the official said.
He said the amounts transferred was less than RM1,000 each time, but many could have fallen prey to the syndicate.
He said investigations showed that the syndicate had been operating the call centres for several months before officers from the Commercial Crimes Investigations Department raided the premises.
“Each of the suspects was paid a basic salary of more than RM2,000 with commission whenever they successfully dupe a victim,” the official said.
He added that investigations were being carried out under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
Police also seized some documents and mobile phones from the suspects.
In an unrelated case, police arrested three people, including the mastermind of a gang, over a fake lottery scam.
The suspects, including two women, were nabbed in Kluang several days ago.
The mastermind has been involved in at least 10 similar cases since 2015 and has been arrested and convicted several times.
“They usually approach a victim, saying that they have a winning lottery ticket and offer to sell it at a fraction of the winning amount.
“They claim that they are foreigners and cannot cash out the ticket.
“The victim only found out that they had been duped when they went to the lottery outlet to claim the money,” the official said.
Meanwhile, a 33-year-old teacher from a local school has been detained to assist in a sexual assault case.
Johor Baru South Deputy OCPD Supt Azrul Hisham Mohd Shaffei said police received three reports from three victims on April 16.
“The suspect has been remanded for six days until April 27,” he said, adding that the case would be investigated under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act.
