Sabah cops nab 104 Chinese for involvement in online scams

Sabah immigration director Muhammad Sade Mohamad Amin showing reporters some of the devices used in the online scams.

KOTA KINABALU: A total of 104 Chinese nationals have been arrested by the Sabah Immigration Department for alleged involvement in online scams.

Sabah immigration director Muhammad Sade Mohamad Amin said the group was believed to have been operating in seven condominium units and a building on the second floor of the 1 Borneo Hypermall here over the last two months.

“The units were rented by the group from local owners. In the raids on Tuesday, 41 officers arrested the suspects, aged between 18 and 39, and who were savvy with modern gadgets.

“The suspects comprised 94 men and 10 women. Only 36 were able to produce their passports and the rest have yet to show them to us,” he told reporters at the state immigration headquarters at the federal administrative complex here today.

The arrests come six days after 680 suspected scammers were arrested by the Immigration Department in Cyberjaya. Sabah police are looking into the possibility that this group had connections with those arrested in Peninsular Malaysia.

Saying the arrest had come from a public tip-off, Sade added that the group had used the place as call centres.

Immigration officers also confiscated 916 handphones, 348 SIM cards, 64 laptops and 28 desktops.

Police believe the group had been targeting Chinese-speaking victims, either in China or elsewhere, based on the use of Chinese characters in their operations.

“They were offering high profits and quick returns to their victims and were using WeChat Pay or banks in China for the financial transactions.

“The Consul-General of China will be informed of this matter officially soon,” he said.

The suspects are now in the process of being charged for violating their social visit passes, overstaying and other passport-related offences as well as money-laundering charges, he said.

He said Bank Negara Malaysia, the Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the Companies Commission of Malaysia and City Hall had been roped in to assist in the investigation. - FMT