JOHOR BARU: A man in his 30s, who has been arrested at least six times previously for various cheating offences, was once again nabbed, this time for running an illegal call centre offering fake loans.
The suspect from Negri Sembilan was arrested with at least two other henchmen, both locals in their 20s, during a raid at a house in Bandar Dato Onn several days ago.
A police official said the main suspect was able to rake in almost RM7,000 a month by duping people.
He added that the suspects would usually search for victims on social media and entice them by offering loans with low interest rates.
“Many of those who seek their services are those who are bankrupt or do not meet the criteria to get personal loans from legal financial institutions.
“Once a person is interested in a loan, the syndicate members will then ask them to deposit small amounts of money for processing fees and other fees in order to release the loan,” the official said, adding that sometimes the amounts deposited could run into thousands of ringgit.
The official said that in the end, the victims would lose the money and never get the loan.
Police seized several mobile phones from the suspects, who have all been remanded, the official added.
Meanwhile, in another scam case, a 67-year-old retired teacher’s life savings totalling RM521,787 were lost in a fake investment scheme.
Johor Baru South OCPD Asst Comm Azrul Hisham Mohd Shaffei said the incident occurred on Sept 16 when the victim came across an advertisement on Facebook offering attractive returns from investments.
“The victim contacted a number that was advertised and was promised up to 50% returns on his investments,” he said, adding that between Sept 17 and Oct 29, the retiree had transferred money to six different accounts via 16 transactions.
ACP Azrul added that the suspects kept asking for more funds using various excuses such as capital for the investment, collateral and fees for opening an account.
“Realising that something was amiss, the victim refused to deposit more funds and instead lodged a police report,” he said, adding that investigations were being carried out under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
In another case, ACP Azrul said an administrative staff member of an air-conditioning company had lodged a police report alleging that the company was duped in a fake tender offer, resulting in RM134,400 in losses.
He said the incident occurred on Oct 6 when the 42-year-old staff member received a call from a man claiming to be an official from the Johor Education Department offering a tender to instal air-conditioning units at the Pontian education office.
“The official asked the staff member to book the units via another person whom he claimed was the supplier.
“On Oct 21 and 22, two transactions were made to an account provided by the supplier,” ACP Azrul said, adding that the staff member became suspicious when the company did not receive the units that were ordered.
ACP Azrul confirmed receiving a report and said that investigations were being carried out for cheating.
He advised the public to use the SemakMule mobile app or visit https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my to check if bank accounts or phone numbers were linked to suspicious activities.
