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IPOH: The Perak police have paralyzed a Macau scam syndicate operating out of a condominium in Sri Petaling in Kuala Lumpur.
Perak Police Acting Chief Commissioner Datuk Goh Boon Keng said a raid was carried out around 5 p.m. on October 30 on the condo, which was transformed into a call center where 22 suspects they were arrested.
He said the suspects, aged 18 to 27, were 18 men and four women, all local.
DCP Goh said the arrests were possible after a victim near here filed a police report on October 20, stating that he had been defrauded from 67,000 ringgit after receiving calls from the “police” and “poslaju” staff telling him that he was in trouble.
“This is the first time that the police have arrested phone scam syndicates operating in the country targeting Malaysians.
“We believe that the same union is involved in 76 other cheating cases involving RM11mil,” he said at a press conference at the state police headquarters here.
DCP Goh said that during the raid, 34 units of mobile phones, three laptops, 25 units of iPads, a tablet, a car were seized, as well as scripts prepared in three languages used to deceive people through telephone conversations.
He said police believe the union has been operating in the country for the past two years.
“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, they have found it difficult to operate abroad and have therefore targeted locals.
“Before this, their modus operandi was to target those from other countries. We are still tracking the brain behind the union, ”he added.
Recalling how the union was arrested, DCP Goh said that the victim, a woman, had received a call from another woman claiming to be from the Kuala Lumpur post office.
He said the caller informed the victim that a package he was supposed to send to Kuantan was now being held in Sabah.
“Although the victim denied having sent any items, the call was later allegedly transferred to ‘IPK Sabah’, where a man claiming to be a police sergeant told him that the package had problems and that he was required to file a police report. in Sabah to deny it was his package.
“The line was later transferred to an ‘Insp Leong’, where he told the victim that her MyKad and a bank account had been used for money laundering, and that she had received RM148,000 on her account, and that she would be arrested. .
“The victim got scared and followed all the instructions, where she had transferred RM67,000 to a third party account, and realized only after she had been misled,” he added.
DCP Goh said that many times people have been reminded not to receive such calls, as the police or any other government agency would send certified letters if any legal action is required.
“The police will never ask people to put money from their personal account into a third party account,” he added.
The term “Macau Scam” was coined because it is believed to have originated in Macau or that the first victims came from there. This has never been confirmed.
The scam often begins with a phone call from someone posing as a bank official, government agency, or debt collector.
The scammer will then claim that the potential victim owes money or has an unpaid fine, often with a very short window of less than an hour, to clear the payment or face “dire consequences.”
These unsuspecting victims will be asked to make payments to get out of trouble.
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