Photo: Facebook (Malaysia Immigration News Update)
In a raid that happened at 11a.m. yesterday at a building in Cyberjaya, the Immigration Department arrested 680 Chinese nationals involved in one of the largest online scam syndicates in Malaysia.
According to a statement released by the department on their Facebook page, the syndicate activities are believed to be based in China and they are suspected to have been ongoing for about 6 months now - thank god it’s been put to a stop!
Photographs taken by the Immigration department showed an astonishing amount of gadgets - there were as many as 8,230 mobile phones, 174 laptops and 787 desktops seized.
Photo: Facebook (Malaysia Immigration News Update)
Things did not exactly go smoothly- when operations officers approached the area, chaos ensued as the scam operators attacked the Immigration officers. An estimated number of 100 Chinese nationals managed to escape arrest by crashing the siege surrounding them. Injuries were inevitable and some got injured in the attempt to run away. With help from Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia Selangor and Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, our officers managed to regain control of the situation. Sounds like a hell of a ride, huh?
Photo: Facebook (Malaysia Immigration News Update)
The modus operandi of the syndicate sounds pretty simple - the operators would send a code to their customers, targeting applications that used Mandarin. All the transactions went through Wechat Pay or banks in China, and victims were promised high returns in a short period of time (said every scammer ever). The operations centre that was raided is believed to have been a call centre.
Early investigations revealed that the Chinese nationals were in the country on a social visit pass. This immediately found them guilty under Section 39(b) for violating the terms of the pass, Section 6(1)(c) Immigration Act 1959/63 for entering and staying in the country without a valid pass, as well as Section 15(1)(c) Immigration Act 1959/63 for staying past the given period.
Foreclosure under the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2001 will also be carried out for investigation purposes.
Almost all the Chinese nationals who were arrested did not have a passport and until now, there is still no update on their documents. For now, the China Embassy in Malaysia has been informed about the issue at hand.
By: Celestine Foo
