Postby FrumpyBB » Thu Jul 17, 2014 4:53 am
^^
KUALA LUMPUR: Police busted a “internet parcel scam” syndicate after arresting five Nigerian nationals and their lover who allegedly bore several of their children.
The 42-year-old Malaysian national, who has been the lover of all five of the syndicate members, is said to have borne 12 children with several different fathers and has worked for the syndicate impersonating government and bank officials to scam their victims.
The woman, who also worked as a bank account holder for the syndicate, also admitted to allegedly receiving RM1.5mil to RM2mil of transaction into her bank account while working for the syndicate.
Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigations Department (CCID) deputy director (intelligence and operations) Senior Asst Comm Datuk Jalil Hassan said that the suspects were arrested in several spots in the Klang Valley during an operation on Thursday with police seizing 14 bank account books, 21 ATM cards, 10 handphones and several other items.
“Our initial investigations revealed that all five of the Nigerian suspects were in Malaysia on student visas,” he told a press conference at the Federal CCID headquarters in Bukit Perdana here yesterday.
He added that nine others including six women, who were working for the syndicate as bank account holders were also arrested.
SAC Jalil said all the suspects, aged between 26 and 39, have been remanded to facilitate investigation following the arrests made on Thursday.
He added police got a lead on the syndicate when a 60-year-old Singaporean woman who lived in Johor Bharu was duped into parting with RM566,590.93 by a syndicate member who led her into believing that she would receive a parcel containing 750,000 sterling pounds.
“They had met in Facebook in July last year. The syndicate member was impersonating an Irish man who was interested in the victim,” he said adding that the syndicate member then told the victim he had sent a parcel to her home in Johor Bharu through courier service.
“The victim then received an email saying that the parcel has already arrived at customs but she would have to pay transaction and insurance fees for the parcel to claim it. Believing his sweet talk and promises, he said the woman had deposited money into several local bank accounts,” said SAC Jalil adding that the victim deposited the money in 12 different transactions in to 12 different accounts amounting to RM566,590.93.
After the last transaction was made, the woman realised that she had been duped as the parcel never arrived, forcing her to lodge a police report on Jan 21.
SAC Jalil said investigation also revealed that syndicate members would pay between four to five percent of the total transaction to the account holders to open local bank accounts.
He added that police believe that the syndicate has been operating for two to three years and has duped more than RM7mil.
“We will continue our investigation. We hope that people would not trust others that they meet on the internet easily,” he added.