A Macau scam syndicate operating in this country was successfully brought to an end by a police team from Perak.
According to the deputy police chief of Perak, Datuk Goh Boon Keng, the police had received complaints from a female victim and investigation was ongoing for a week by teams from Ipoh District Police Headquarters, Perak State Contingent Police Headquarters (IPK) and the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department.
“During a raid done on October 30 at a house in Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur, where the syndicate had been operative, 18 men and four women were apprehended. They’re all locals aged between 18 to 27 who were seen busy performing the scam. 34 smartphones, three laptops, 25 iPads, a tablet and a vehicle were confiscated during the process.
“When examined, the iPads contained scripts that were used by the syndicate to perform scams. They were written in Malay, Chinese and English. We believe the syndicate was trained to deceive the public,” he told reporters at the IPK here today (November 3).
‘Macau scam’ is believed to have started from Macau. The caller disguises as a police or authority, claiming that the person will face ‘legal actions’ due to ‘unpaid money’. To get rid of those ‘legal actions’, the scammer will ask the person to bank a sum of money into bank account(s).
Preliminary investigations by the police found that the syndicate was also involved with 76 more cases of Macau scams around the country, amounting to losses as much as RM11 million by the public.
Goh added that the syndicate had been active for the past two years and that it was involved with similar scams overseas.
“We believe they returned to Malaysia due to COVID-19 and proceeded to perform scams here in the country,” he mentioned.
“This is the very first time the local police had successfully brought down a Macau scam syndicate operating here,” Goh expressed.
All suspects had no prior crime records but investigations are still ongoing to identify the mastermind of the syndicate. They are currently investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code and a remand extension for the suspects is being processed.
Rosli Mansor
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