After dismantling a scam call center, police arrested 21 suspects for investigation.
A cryptocurrency investment scam group targeting Japanese, set up their call center in a secluded villa with high walls, attempting to stay under the radar, but ultimately could not escape the law!
The national director of commercial crime investigations, Nan Li Yusof, held a press conference stating that on August 19, police raided two villas in Kuala Lumpur, destroyed the scam call center, and arrested 21 local and foreign men and women suspected of using dating apps to lure Japanese into investing in cryptocurrency.
Nan Li Yusof: Police successfully dismantled a cryptocurrency investment scam call center targeting Japanese.
"The arrested suspects range in age from 22 to 37, with the local men being lookouts and runners, while the remaining 20 (16 Chinese men and women, 1 Hong Kong Chinese man, 1 Laotian woman, and 1 Burmese man) served as customer service, contacting victims through dating apps."
Nan Li Yusof noted that preliminary investigations showed that the group used dating platforms like Tinder and 9monster to find targets, and after establishing trust with the victims, they would persuade them to invest in cryptocurrency through platforms like Bitbank and CoinCheck.
"These foreign suspects entered Malaysia on tourist visas from the Philippines, and their salaries were planned as commissions, taking 20% of each successful scam as a reward."
He added that the group set up the call center in a villa far from the main roads and surrounded by high walls to evade police pursuit.
Despite their cautious actions, they were uncovered by the police in less than a month of operation.
Currently, the local suspects have been verbally bailed by the police after their detention period expired, while the remaining foreign suspects are under investigation under the Immigration Act of 1959/63.
