Romance scam group busted

PETALING JAYA: Police solved 14 cases of online "romance" scams following the arrest of a Nigerian man and his Malaysian girlfriend in Damansara Damai yesterday.
Police said the 34-year-old foreigner and the 32-year-old woman are allegedly behind the cases that caused their victims losses of almost RM400,000.
Federal commercial crimes investigations department (CCID) assistant director (operations) ACP Mohd Nurol Hadi Yusoff said a raiding team seized computers, mobile phones and other items related to the scam during the morning raid at a rented apartment of the suspects.
He said police are also checking if there are other accomplices who worked with the suspects to execute the scams.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar in a twitter message congratulated the CCID in nabbing the suspects.
The "love scam", often the work of Nigerian conmen, targets single women seeking companionship via the internet.
Victims are sweet-talked by the scammers who cook up sad tales to convince the women to part with their money.