IPOH: A fake money-lending syndicate was busted by police with the arrest of 13 people at two condominium units here last month.
Perak Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Supt Hasbullah Abd Rahman said the individuals, 12 local men and a woman between the ages of 24 and 34, were arrested in a joint operation with the Bukit Aman JSJK Operations Division at around 2pm yesterday.
“During the arrests, they were believed to be carrying out fraudulent operations in two rented condominium units which served as a call centre to deceive victims who were in need of money.
“Police also seized 27 mobile phones and documents containing a list of telephone numbers and victims’ information during the raid,“ he said to a press conference at the Perak police contingent headquarters, here today.
He said the syndicate’s modus operandi was through Facebook loan advertisements and the suspect contacted the victims based on information obtained from online documents completed by the victims.
Hasbullah said the suspects then contacted the victims, acting as bank officers and asking them to pay a certain amount of money in advance for a made-up processing purposes.
“Initial investigations revealed that the syndicate offered loans amounting between RM5,000 and RM50,000 to the victims and so far the police have received four reports on cases involving the same syndicate,“ he said.
Hasbullah said all suspects from outside Perak were offered a salary of RM3,500 and received commissions for each deceived victim.
He said three of them had previous criminal records and are wanted in connection with drug and criminal cases.
All the suspects were taken to Ipoh magistrates’ court this morning for remand and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for fraud. - Bernama
