PUTRAJAYA: A “resort” was raided by the Immigration Department after scammers turned an abandoned hotel building into a call centre.

The raid on Oct 5 in Sungai Lembing, Kuantan, was the result of nearly a month’s worth of surveillance work.

Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban, at a press conference at the department’s operations headquarters here, said that a total of 95 foreigners were arrested during the raid, including 84 Chinese nationals and a woman from Russia.

“We believe that the group has been active here for around three months. We also believe that this syndicate had been moving around from country to country.

“Their operations here was ‘off the grid’, with electricity from generators and the use of Starlink devices for Internet,” he said.

He added that the operations was fully sustainable, with food being cooked by a set “cook” among them.

“Also arrested was a local man that we believe is the premises owner, as well as two other locals that were believed to had been working in the premises.

“In total the department arrested 98 people during the raid, aged from 20 to 75 years old,” he said.

When asked on the group’s target market, Zakaria said that generally syndicates would aim at their own countrymen for their scams.

Contracts for “employment” were also seized at the scene, with it showing each worker being paid around RM3,000 per month, with chances for commissions if they reach targets. They would also be penalised if they failed to reach quotas.

Various passports were also seized, including 49 Chinese passports and one from Cambodia.

“Based on their passports, some were also overstaying while other suspects were found to have entered the country without documents,” he said.

Investigations also showed that the group was charged around RM30,000 a month for rental.

“The department remains committed in conducting strict enforcement actions to combat any illegal activity in the country to persevere its security and sovereignty,” he said.