Bukit Aman commercial crime investigation department director Rusdi Isa said 22 people, including Malaysians, Taiwanese, Pakistani and Indian nationals, were arrested in a raid on April 23 for suspected involvement in a “Macau scam”.
He said the syndicate’s modus operandi involved impersonating Indian authorities and accusing victims of being involved in the dissemination of seditious content.
“Most shockingly, the syndicate also used ‘Delhi police’ uniforms bearing the name tag ‘Inspector Sunil Kumar’. The attire was used by suspects during video calls to instil fear and panic among victims in that country.
“They were also provided with lists of victim’s phone numbers and used 12 customised scripts in various languages, including Tamil, to deceive victims into making payments to resolve the purported investigations,” he said at a press conference.
A second raid was conducted on April 24, leading to the arrest of 13 people, including Malaysians, Chinese, Myanmar and Vietnamese nationals, allegedly involved in “love scam” activities targeting victims in the US.
He said the syndicate used fake profile applications to build personal relationships with victims before switching to WhatsApp and Telegram to solicit money.
“Since the victims are from the US, we will also share information and cooperate with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for further action and investigation,” he said.
He said both syndicates used luxury condominium units with rental values of RM3,000 and above, equipped with tight security, as call centres to evade detection by authorities.
“They would stay inside the condominium, eating and sleeping there without going out to minimise movement. Even neighbours next door were unaware of their presence.”
Both cases are being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act for residing in Malaysia without a valid pass.
Eight foreigners linked to the love scam case have already been charged with criminal conspiracy under Section 120B(2) of the Penal Code.