PUTRAJAYA: A Bangladeshi national, who raked in RM50,000 from selling fake temporary e-work permits (e-PLKS) for foreign workers, has been detained.
The 30-year-old suspect had been operating for the past six months from a carpet shop in Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin, Kuala Lumpur.
It came to an end when a team of Immigration officers raided the shop at about 9.30am on Tuesday, Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban revealed yesterday.
He said the suspect had been charging RM50 for each fake e-PLKS slip.
“We believe the suspect also forged other documents and business letters. We seized various foreign passports and fake e-PLKS slips from the shop,” he told a press conference at the department headquarters here.
Zakaria said the suspect’s customers were foreign workers who had issues with their e-PLKS applications.
“He took advantage of their situation by conning them as the fake e-PLKS slips would not pass inspection by Immigration officers.
“We have a specific device to scan the QR code on the slips. QR codes on fake e-PLKS are not usable and won’t pass inspections,” he added.
The suspect charged each worker only RM50 as the cost to produce the fake e-documents was not expensive, he said.
“He only needed A4 paper, a computer and a printer. It is much cheaper compared to producing fake e-PLKS stickers,” he said.
In another case, three Indian nationals were detained for being bogus foreign worker agents, Zakaria said.
He said the trio, aged between 39 and 64, were detained in Jalan Masjid India.
“They had many foreign passports in their possession,” he added.
Zakaria said Immigration officers seized various items, including 504 foreign passports, four PCs, four printers, several fake e-PLKS slips, 40 i-Kads and RM94,322.
“Initial investigations revealed that syndicates attracted customers based on word of mouth. They avoided using social media to evade the authorities,” he said.
Zakaria said he did not rule out the possibility that some employers conspired to get the services of the syndicates based on the huge number of foreign passports seized.
He said the investigation was being conducted under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Passport Act 1966.
