PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department scored a huge success when it busted a foreign online scam syndicate with the arrest of 680 China nationals in a raid at an office building in Cyberjaya on Wednesday.
Over 100 other members of the syndicate managed to escape from the 150-strong raiding party when they put up a fight and broke free from pursuing immigration officers in the 11am bust.
The foreigners who are aged between 19 and 35 comprised 603 men and 77 women.
Immigration Department Director-General Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud said today that the syndicate originated from China and had operated for over six months at the sixth floor of the office premises which was its call centre.
He said the call centre, which was leased at RM360,000 a month, was closely guarded by security guards and equipped with closed-circuit television cameras.
Workers could only enter the centre with an access card.
Khairul said his personnel seized 8,230 cellphones, 174 portable computers, and 787 computers at the centre.
He said the scammers mainly targeted victims in their own country by luring and duping them with offers of high returns on foreign exchanges and non-existent investment schemes.
Khairul said the Immigration Department had carried out survelliance on the syndicate for a month before launching an ambush on the call centre.
Most of those held did not possess their passports and had entered Malaysia with social visit passes before joining the syndicate for work. A number of them who had also overstayed.
“When we arrived at the place and the raid was in progress, the foreigners began provoking the raiding party and became aggresive. We cordoned them but about 100 of them managed to break free and escaped on foot.
“However, with the assistance of our counterparts from Selangor and KL, we managed to contain the situation. Several of those we arrested were also injured as a result of putting up a struggle during arrest.
“We are also trying to track down remnants of the syndicate and are ascertaining the masterminds behind it,” he added.
Separately, Selangor police busted a gambling syndicate run by China nationals at a budget hotel in Bandar Puchong Jaya, Selangor today after arresting eight foreigners aged between 25 and 35.
Selangor police CID chief SAC Fadzil Ahmat said the syndicate had rented 10 rooms at the hotel and used it as a centre to promote its illegal gambling activities randomly to cellphone users by SMS.
In the 4am raid, police also seized from the suspects 197 SMS blaster machines and 156 network SIM cards.
Fadzil said the suspects had been operating at the hotel for less than a month and it was the biggest bust on a gambling promotion centre by Selangor police to date.
He added that the suspects, who all possessed valid travel documents, were taken to the Serdang police headquarters for further investigations.
