Melaka police have arrested 17 foreign nationals, including 11 Japanese citizens, after raiding a villa in Alai used as a phone scam call centre targeting Japanese victims.
MELAKA: Police have busted a call centre syndicate believed to be involved in phone scams targeting Japanese nationals after arresting 17 foreign nationals in a raid on a villa in Alai here, Melaka Tengah district police chief ACP Halim Abas said today.
He said the raid at about 2.30 pm last Sunday was conducted by the Melaka Tengah district Commercial Crime Investigation Division (CCID) based on information and intelligence.
“Those arrested, aged between 23 and 55, included three women, comprising 11 Japanese nationals, four Chinese nationals and two Myanmar nationals.
“Police also seized various items believed to be linked to the activities, with the total value of the seizure estimated at RM25,000,” he told a press conference at the Melaka Tengah district police headquarters here.
He said preliminary investigations found that the premises had been rented for about six months and were believed to have been used as the syndicate’s operational centre for conducting phone scams.
Halim said the syndicate was believed to have started operating in Melaka in early August, with all the suspects believed to have acted as customer service officers to identify and contact Japanese victims by telephone.
“Also found were 28 sheets of printed documents believed to contain scripts in Japanese, which are now being examined as part of the investigation,” he said.
Further analysis of the seized items was being conducted to determine the full modus operandi, the roles of each suspect, the identity of the syndicate mastermind, the victims involved and the syndicate’s financial flow.
“Police do not rule out the possibility that there are other individuals or networks linked to the syndicate. Only five of the 17 foreign nationals arrested had passports, with the status of the travel documents, visit passes and work permits of all the suspects is being further checked,” he said.
He said all the suspects were remanded for 14 days from Oct 5 to 18 to facilitate investigations under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
