Police have arrested 35 foreign nationals in Penang for their involvement in an online fraud syndicate operating love scams and fake gold investment schemes targeting Chinese women.
GEORGE TOWN: Police arrested 35 foreign nationals suspected of involvement in an online fraud syndicate specialising in love scams and gold investment schemes during raids on two residences in Bayan Lepas, near here, last Monday.
Barat Daya police chief ACP Anuwal Ab Wahab said the suspects, comprising 33 Chinese men, one Chinese woman and one Taiwanese man, were arrested in an operation conducted by the district’s Commercial Crime Investigation Division in collaboration with the Penang Contingent Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID).
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the syndicate began operating last September, targeting Chinese national women aged between 18 and 46 through the Telegram application,” he said in a statement today.
He said police also seized 119 mobile phones, three laptops and chargers, believed to have been used to facilitate the syndicate’s activities, with the total estimated value of the seized items amounting to RM60,000.
All the suspects are on remand to assist in investigations under Sections 420 and 120B of the Penal Code.
In another development, Anuwal said police were conducting further investigations into an accident involving a Rapid Penang bus and a motorcycle along Jalan Mayang Pasir, near here, last night, which claimed the life of a 29-year-old motorcyclist.
He said police were recording witness statements, reviewing closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage and examining the vehicles involved to assist in investigations under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987, relating to causing death by reckless or dangerous driving.
