SHAH ALAM, Sept 4 — Police arrested 34 foreign nationals during a raid on an online gambling syndicate operating from a terrace house in Sungai Buloh last Saturday.
Selangor police chief Datuk Shazeli Kahar said the individuals arrested in the raid at about 5.10 am were 29 men, including one local, and five women, aged between 19 and 33.
"From initial investigations, the syndicate will impersonate women on Facebook to lure customers. The victims are then persuaded to access a gambling website while the betting and withdrawal of money is carried out via WhatsApp using an overseas bank account," he said at a press conference here yesterday.
Shazeli said the syndicate, which has been active for the past few months, offered various gambling games with a daily profit of between RM2,000 and RM2,500.
"These people work every day from 9 am to 11 pm, while urine tests on all suspects were negative, with no past criminal records detected.
"All suspects were remanded for four days starting August 31 and we have applied for an extension at the Shah Alam Magistrate's Court," he said, adding that the case is being investigated under Section 4(1)(b), (c) and (g) of the Open Gambling House Act 1953.
Meanwhile, in a crackdown on call centre fraud syndicates, Shazeli said a total of 39 people, including 24 local men and two women, were arrested in three separate operations in Subang Jaya and Rawang last month, which has caused losses of RM515 million so far.
He said according to investigations, the three syndicates had been operating between March and July, targeting victims from Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore, using customer service officers to find victims.
“In the early stages, syndicate members will communicate with victims via social media platforms such as Facebook, Telegram and WhatsApp.
“Once victims are successfully convinced, they will be persuaded to participate in an investment package … but the investment does not exist,” he said, adding that the victims only realise they had been cheated after payment is made and all contact is lost — with their money out of sight.
