POLICE arrested six Nigerian men and a local woman, believed to be members of a syndicate involved in love scams, in two raids in Kajang, Selangor on June 23.

The suspects are aged between 33 and 42 and the syndicate, which has been active in the past five years, is believed to have targeted Malaysians and foreigners.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Mohd Kamarudin Md Din said investigations revealed that the syndicate was linked to at least eight love scam cases involving losses estimated at RM3.7 million.

“We also found that the syndicate (members) entered the country using student and social visas. When their visas expired, they continued to live here illegally to continue with their fraud activities,” he said in a statement today. 

He said police also seized eight laptops, 17 mobile phones, three thumb drives, two modems, two routers, two automated teller machine cards, a set of keys, two Nigerian passports and various other documents.

Kamarudin said the syndicate operated in two groups, with one creating fake accounts on social media and the other looking for mule accounts.

“The syndicate worked with locals who would pose as customs officers or employees of courier companies to dupe their victims,” he said, adding that all the suspects are being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code and Section 6(1)(c) or Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/62.

He advised the public to always be wary of requests for friendship or love on social media, especially those who promise gifts.

“Don’t be easily deceived by phone calls, WhatsApp, messages from customs or courier companies asking for payments so that parcels can be sent to you,” he said.

He urged the people to look up the account and telephone numbers at http://ccid.rmp.gov.my/semakmule to check if they have been linked to previous fraud cases before making any payments.

“The public can contact the CCID Scam Response Centre at 03-26101559 or 03-26101599 or by sending WhatsApp message to the CCID Infoline at 013-2111222 if they have any information on such cases,” he said. – Bernama, June 27, 2021.