[ad_1]
JOHOR BARU: The police have crushed a union involved in a Macau scam, which used its ill-gotten gains to buy property and invest in cryptocurrencies totaling more than RM336k.
At least 12 suspects, including nine men and three women, have been arrested, including several company directors who were caught in a series of raids in Penang and Kuala Lumpur last month.
Johor Police Chief Comm Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said that under the operation codenamed Ops Pelican 2.0, police uncovered a detailed web of how this scam syndicate operated, including his brain, numerous mule accounts, bogus companies and investments.
He said that victims who have been deceived by this union will first transfer money to a mule account.
“The money is then funneled to another mule account that belongs to another company,” he said, adding that all the mule accounts belonged to union members and were designed to ensure that the authorities could not trace the money.
Comm Ayob said that the funds were then transferred to a real estate developer in Penang to buy properties and also invest in cryptocurrencies.
“This modus operandi is done to avoid detection by the authorities and is their form of money laundering,” he said during a press conference at the Johor police headquarters here on Sunday (January 3).
He added that to date, police have traced about 91 mule bank accounts, including 73 business bank accounts and 18 personal bank accounts.
“Our investigations showed that since June this year, some RM25,000 have been used to make payments on account to purchase 100 units of condominiums and commercial units in George Town, Penang.
“Additional investigations into the purchase agreements allowed us to identify two companies that participated in the purchase of those properties,” he said.
Comm Ayob said both companies belonged to the 55-year-old mastermind, who had prior convictions, while his two sons were directors of these two companies.
He added that the mastermind is believed to have fled the country and is currently in Thailand.
“Our investigations showed that some of the proxies and directors of the bogus companies were being paid RM16,000 per month,” he said, adding that the police were investigating the case under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
The 12 suspects, aged between 29 and 68, were released on police bail following the raids, which were carried out by a team of officers from Iskandar Puteri’s commercial crimes investigation unit, between December 3 and 21.
[ad_2]
