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KUALA LUMPUR: Ten members of a mule accounts union were arrested in raids by the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor from 5 to 10 November.
The union uses low-income bank accounts for illegal activities such as investment fraud and other scams.
Bukit Aman CCID Director Datuk Zainuddin Yaacob said all of the arrested suspects were locals between the ages of 20 and 32, including seven men and three women, and it was believed that they had purchased each ATM card for between RM500 and RM800 from members of the public.
Syndicate members are believed to influence ‘investors’ by promising them a healthy return, and after a victim places money in the account, they will withdraw it via automated teller machine (ATM) cards obtained from the holders of the account that they do not know that the accounts are used to commit fraud.
“Following the arrests, the police have received a total of 32 reports related to mule accounts across the country, with losses worth about 1.2 million ringgit,” he said.
Zainuddin said union members were also found renting condos for between RM3,000 and RM5,000 a month to prevent authorities from detecting their activities.
“All suspects are being investigated under Section 424 of the Penal Code, as they are believed to be involved in fraud cases, and currently, all suspects are being held under the Crime Prevention Act (POCA) of 1959 for 21 days “he added. said.
In a separate case, the CCID also arrested 10 people suspected of being involved in the EssenceFX (Forex) investment syndicate during raids at four locations around the Klang Valley on November 19.
The suspects between the ages of 25 and 42 included eight local men and one woman, as well as an Indonesian who is believed to be the girlfriend of the union leader known as ‘Joe Kedah’.
“The police previously received 72 complaints involving losses of 20.5 million ringgit suffered by victims linked to this union,” he said.
Zainuddin said that the syndicate was believed to have encouraged victims to invest in Forex by promising them a profit of five to eight percent per month via the EssenceFX platform using the ‘Metatrade 4’ app.
“The victims only realized that they had been misled after the website was no longer accessible. After the arrests, all the suspects were placed in preventive detention for five days until November 24, ”he said, adding that all of them were being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for fraud and the Anti-Money Laundering Law. (AMLA).
The police also confiscated 10 luxury cars, 17 mobile phones, 11 computers, RM10,000 in cash and other equipment used in the activity.Called
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