The Chinese nationals had been operating from a bungalow in Ayer Keroh, Melaka, for two months.
MELAKA: Melaka police have arrested 29 Chinese nationals who turned a Vista Kirana bungalow in Ayer Keroh here into a “Macau scam” call centre.
According to Melaka police chief Abdul Jalil Hassan, the 26 men and three women, aged between 20 and 48, were arrested while they were running the call centre about 12.30pm on Sept 14.
He said based on police intelligence, the 24-hour “Macau Scam” call centre, that targeted Hong Kong and Chinese citizens, had been operating for the last two months.
“The syndicate members will contact these victims using the voice over Internet protocol service by amending the caller’s number and deceiving victims with information that they had won a lucky draw worth millions of dollars from companies in both the countries.
“The victims are then required to make a certain payment for tax and insurance to transfer the money into their accounts,” he told reporters at a press conference here today.
Present was Melaka Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Supt Baderulhisham Baharudin.
Jalil added that the Chinese nationals entered the country using a social visit pass.
Food and drinks were delivered to them at the bungalow so they would not need to leave the centre.
He said police seized telecommunication equipment, including telephones, mobile phones as well as scripts used by syndicate members to deceive victims.
The syndicate members also pretended to be court or police officers who accused their intended victims of being involved in illegal activities like money lending, extortion and drug trafficking.
At other times, they claimed the victims’ children had been abducted.
Sometimes, the syndicate members also claimed to be bank officers by informing the victims they had an arrears in their credit card payments.
“The syndicate made use of local residents’ accounts to transfer payments made by the victims.”
He said all the syndicate members were being detained to assist investigations under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
In Melaka, Jalil said 89 local residents had been cheated by the Macau scam syndicate from January to August this year. This involved losses of about RM2 million.
In the corresponding period last year, there were 20 such cases with losses amounting to RM1.3 million.
Jalil advised the public to be cautious when receiving calls from strangers and to refrain from sharing personal information about their bank accounts and identity card numbers. He also advised them to end the phone conversation if in doubt.
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Sumber Melaka cops nab 29 ‘Macau scam’ syndicate members
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