MELAKA: A Melaka police crackdown has exposed two international online fraud syndicates that lured victims with fake advertisements and non-existent services, leading to the arrest of 19 suspects, including foreigners from Indonesia, the Philippines and China.
Melaka police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Dzulkhairi Mukhtar said the syndicates, which had been operating for about three months, were uncovered during three raids under "Ops Merpati" on Sept 2 and 3.
"The suspects, aged between 21 and 60 years old, were detained in several locations across the historic city, believed to be used as scam operation centres," he said on Monday (Sept 8).
In the first raid, DCP Dzulkhairi said his men conducted a raid at an apartment in Jalan Tun Perak here and arrested seven Indonesian men, all of whom had entered the country legally on tourist passes.
He said the group allegedly duped fellow Indonesians by offering mobile phones, motorcycles and cars at low prices on Facebook.
"Victims were later contacted through Telegram and instructed to make advance payments to bank accounts in Indonesia before losing all communication.
"Each suspect was paid between RM1,000 and RM2,000 a month and we seized seven laptops, three cars and eight mobile phones worth about RM25,000,” he said.
DCP Dzulkhairi said subsequently, his officers raided a luxury residence in Ayer Keroh here and detained a local man, two Filipino women and five Chinese nationals.
He said another raid was carried out in Bandar Hilir here that led to the arrest of four more male Chinese nationals.
He said this group tricked Chinese victims into paying for sexual services that never existed, with payments routed to bank accounts in Cambodia.
"Cash in various currencies, eight computers, 21 mobile phones and three cars valued at RM550,000 were confiscated'" he said.
He added that all the suspects are currently under remand to assist investigations under Section 420 and Section 120B of the Penal Code for cheating and conspiracy as well as Sections 15(1)(c) and 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
