12 more Macau Scam culprits caught
New Straits Times
Saturday, Jan 19, 2013
SHAH ALAM - Police nabbed 12 members of the Macau Scam syndicate in a raid at a three-storey luxury bungalow in Taman Ampang Utama which had been turned into a call centre here, on Monday.
The 12 suspects, six of them women, who were China and Taiwan nationals, were picked up during the 11.30pm raid.
The latest bust brings the number of the syndicate members arrested to almost 100.
Last month, police detained 51 members of the syndicate in a simultaneous raid at two different locations in Petaling Jaya.
The syndicate was believed to be responsible for thousands of cheating cases in China with losses from victims running into millions of ringgit.
The syndicate's modus operandi was to con their victim of their money by impersonating court officials, law enforcement officers and China central bank officials.
State Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Assistant Commissioner Chong Mun Phong said the latest bust found that the syndicate was operating from the bungalow for the past two weeks and was duping money from their victims in China.
She said as was the modus operandi adopted in previous cases, the victims were informed that they were being investigated for criminal offences and that their account would be frozen until investigations was completed.
"To avoid this, they were told to transfer their money into a 'safe account' provided, on the surety that the money would be transferred back into their account in two hours.
"The victims were also told not to inform anyone about the instructions or risk being charged for leaking the matter, which was considered to be an official secret.
"The panicked victims would do as they were told and, by the time they realised what was happening, the money was gone," she said here, yesterday.
She also said the 12 suspects, aged between 19 and 36, entered the country without valid travel documents.
Investigations revealed that the syndicate only targeted people from China and so far, there were no reports of Malaysians being victims.
During the raid, various communication devices were seized, including 41 telephones, 21 handphones, 18 modems, 13 intercoms, 11 laptops, two printers and various related documents.
She said the suspects were remanded until today. The case is being investigated according to Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
In a separate case, Chong said a 28-year-old man lost RM64,000 after he fell victim to suspects employing the "Macau Scam".
She said the businessman received two calls from a man posing as an inspector from the Kuala Lumpur police contingent and another officer from the Finance Ministry.
"At first, the victim refused to believe the suspects but changed his mind after he discovered that the numbers used by the suspects were similar to the official numbers of the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters and Finance Ministry."
Chong said the suspects used Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) technology where numbers of government agencies could be duplicated to deceive victims.
