Police bust forex scam | The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Police smashed a forex scam syndicate believed to have been led by a bogus Datuk who had conned 629 victims of over RM30mil.

Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department deputy director Comm Datuk Kamarudin Md Din said said a Ferrari F430 and a McLaren were also seized from the syndicate besides three Mercedes Benz and a Toyota Vellfire.

“A series of raids were conducted in Klang Valley on Tuesday where 22 locals and two foreigners were arrested.

“We seized 22 mobile phones, one tablet device, 10 laptops, one computer, one hard disk, 14 books on Forex investments, 1,000 counterfeit US$100 bills, 10 real US$100 bills, 15 ATM cards, nine luxury watches, seven gold bars believed to be fake, 11 branded bags, jewellery and RM2,230 cash, ” he told a press conference at the Bukit Aman CCID headquarters here yesterday.

Comm Kamarudin said the syndicate had been active for over two years and would dupe the public by selling software which could analyse the forex market situation.

“We found that they also created a fake website to convince potential victims into investing.

“The victims would only learn they have been conned when they found out that they have no way of transferring their profits to their bank accounts, ” he said.

In GEORGE TOWN, a 58-year-old woman has been cheated of more than RM200,000 over a non-existent Covid-19 relief fund last year.

George Town OCPD Asst Comm Soffian Santong said the victim claimed that she was duped after applying for a purported Covid-19 household living aid via Facebook.

“According to the victim, in August last year, she received a message via Facebook messenger from her Facebook friends who told her that there was a scheme that gave out US$100,000 to eligible Covid-19 victims, ” he said in a statement yesterday.

He said the victim – a Vietnamese national with Malaysia permanent resident status – then browsed the Facebook page on Aug 17,2020.

ACP Soffian said the victim wanted to apply for the money to buy a house and care for her disabled husband.

He said the victim was asked by the suspect to make a RM8,000 payment for processing fees for the application and insurance under the purported scheme.

He said the victim made 12 transactions amounting to RM210,600 into five bank accounts between Aug 18 and Nov 17 last year.