KUALA LUMPUR: Police seized luxury watches, plush cars, gold bars and other items worth over RM126 million after crippling a scam forex investment scheme operating since 2018.
Also arrested were 10 suspects including its mastermind.
The suspects including a woman who are aged between 29 and 64 were nabbed on Friday in multiple raids that were conducted by the police commercial crimes investigation department (CCID) in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Perak, Malacca and Johor.
Police said the 40-year-old mastermind of the syndicate who was among those arrested and had claims to be a Datuk Seri holds a masters degree in business administration.
Federal CCID director Commissioner Datuk Kamarudin Mat Din said the syndicate had promoted the purported money-maker in the social media promising investors high returns for their investments.
He said investors who signed up with investments as low as RM420 in US currency were given an online account to manage their funds.
“The investors saw their investments grow but they were unable to withdraw their profits. The syndicate members would come up with all kinds of excuses before they abruptly shut down the website and disappeared with the funds. They will be no longer reachable,“ he said.
Kamarudin said police received 23 police reports related to the scam that had caused losses close to RM3 million.
He said the highest single investment made by a victim was almost RM750,000.
Kamarudin said four of the suspects in custody have past criminal records for cheating.
He said for the whole of last year police arrested 906 people over 3,195 scam cases that saw losses of about RM245 million.