JOHOR BAHRU: Johor police have dismantled two online scam syndicates in Forest City in Iskandar Puteri and arrested 335 people, most of them foreign nationals, authorities announced on Tuesday (Jul 28).
The suspects, aged between 20 and 58, were nabbed in an operation on Jul 15.
They comprised 309 Chinese nationals, 19 Indonesians, four Myanmar nationals and three locals, said Johor police chief Ab Rahaman Arsad, as reported by local media. Of those arrested, 159 were expected to be charged on Tuesday.
Rahaman said the two syndicates are not linked to digital nomad community Network School, which was ordered to cease all operations at its Forest City premises last week after state authorities revoked its business licence.
The police raided 27 apartment units and five bungalows in Forest City, a sprawling integrated waterfront development, Rahaman said, as reported by Utusan Malaysia.
“This operation had successfully crippled two different syndicates that carried out online scam activities such as fake cryptocurrency investment offers and ‘love scams’ targeting victims from abroad, especially China and Indonesia,” he said, as quoted by Malay Mail.
The police seized 313 computers, 1,557 mobile phones, 17 laptops various other equipment and a Mazda CX-8 sport utility vehicle (SUV), said Rahaman.
The two syndicates were believed to have employed different methods to target victims abroad, according to the Johor police chief.
The first syndicate comprised 279 suspects who allegedly carried out love and crypto scams, according to Rahaman.
The second syndicate involved 56 suspects, of whom 54 were foreigners. They allegedly impersonated recruitment agents and offered fake crypto investments, Free Malaysia Today reported.
Some of the suspects did not possess valid travel documents.
The police have opened 23 investigation papers linked to fraud and staying in Malaysia without valid travel passes.
They have referred 14 investigation papers to deputy public prosecutors, with orders already given to charge 194 suspects.
The remaining 35 of the 194 suspects will be prosecuted on Wednesday at the Johor Bahru magistrates’ court, said Rahaman, as quoted by Free Malaysia Today.
The nine other investigation papers are awaiting further instructions from the deputy public prosecutor’s office, he said.
Rahaman said the alleged masterminds remain at large and the authorities are working to track them down, including through cooperation with Interpol.
Concerns have surfaced in recent months that some transnational scam and online gambling rings were relocating activities to Malaysia and Indonesia, in response to heightened pressure to crack down on such illegal activities in Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.
In May, Malaysia’s police chief Mohd Khalid Ismail said transnational scam syndicates were exploiting Malaysia’s visa-exemption policy to operate in the country.
His remarks came after Malaysian police arrested 187 suspects in Klang Valley on May 6 and 7 and seized assets of nearly RM58 million (US$14.7 million) in a dragnet.
The arrested individuals included 127 Chinese nationals, 23 Malaysians, nine Japanese, eight Vietnamese and seven Indonesians, local news outlets reported. The others were from Laos, Thailand, the Philippines and Myanmar.
Malaysian police were working closely with the Immigration Department and other enforcement agencies to monitor the entry of foreigners and tourists, Mohd Khalid said at the time.