Johor cops arrest five Chinese nationals involved in Macau scam

JOHOR BARU: Five Chinese citizens were arrested by police in a raid on a luxury condominium here on Sunday for alleged involvement in the Macau Scam syndicate.
Johor Baru South District Police Chief ACP Shahurinain Jais said in a statement here yesterday that the suspects comprising four men and a woman had made Malaysia their centre of operations, but were targeting victims from outside the country.
"The syndicate's modus operandi was for one its members to call the victim by introducing himself as a public official or a senior officer from a financial institution. The victim would then be told that he was being investigated by the Police, Bank Negara or the Customs Department,'' he said.
Shahurinain said police also seized four laptops, three modems/routers, 19 mobile phones, and 10 albums containing numerous phone simcards during the raid.
Also seized were 168 sets of Chinese identification cards, 113 One Time Password Generators, 17 pen drives, 115 Chinese multi-bank ATM cards and documents believed to be used by the syndicate to carry out their fraudulent activities.
The suspects, aged between 22 and 40, had been remanded for 14 days until July 15 to assist in investigations under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and Section 6 (3) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
In KUANTAN, a doctor lost RM30,000 after being tricked by the Macau Scam syndicate into believing that he was involved in fraud and money laundering cases in Raub on June 18.
Pahang Commercial Criminal Investigation Department chief Supt Mohd Wazir Yusof said yesterday, that the 72-year-old victim, upon receiving a call from a man supposedly from the Alor Star High Court, was informed that he had a debt of RM17,600 in a company that was registered in his name.
He said that the victim was later asked to provide details on his bank account for further investigation purposes.
"When the victim checked his bank account, he discovered that RM30,000 had been transferred to a third party account without his permission," he said.
Mohd Wazir said that the victim later lodged a report at the Raub District Police Headquarters and the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code which provides a maximum jail term of 10 years and whipping and fine upon conviction. — Bernama