KUALA LUMPUR: An investment scam call centre targeting South Koreans paid two men RM3,000 to double as guards and to deliver food, as revealed by Immigration Department director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban.
The syndicate’s activities in a residential area in Klebang Kechil, Melaka were cut short on Thursday with the arrest of 34 people, including 31 Chinese nationals following a month-long intelligence operation involving the Immigration Department’s Intelligence and Special Operations Division and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.
Zakaria said the suspects comprised 29 Chinese men, two Chinese women, one Taiwanese man and two Malaysian men aged 22 and 32.
“Three Chinese men had overstayed, while the other foreign nationals do not possess valid travel documents or passes to remain in the country.
“We seized three Chinese passports, 309 mobile phones, 45 computers, five routers, a gigabit switch, a portable WiFi device, a gate remote control and 21 notebooks containing instructions on how to scam victims.”
Zakaria said the syndicate, which had been active for three months and worked from 8am to 8pm, had used the homestay to evade detection.
The two Malaysian men were detained for offences under Section 56(1)(d) of the Immigration Act, while the foreign nationals were held under Section 6(1)(c) and Section 15(1)(c) of the same Act.
All detainees were taken to the Immigration Department’s headquarters in Putrajaya for further investigation.
