KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 — The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) has dispatched a special team to Islamabad, Pakistan, to investigate reports of the detention of several Malaysians suspected of involvement in an online scam syndicate.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohd Khalid Ismail said he could not yet confirm the exact number of Malaysians detained as the investigation was still in its early stages.
“The Home Minister informed me yesterday that visits to these specific locations require coordinated action, not just between us, but also at the government-to-government level,” he told reporters after the handover ceremony for All-Terrain Tactical Assault E-bikes (ATEB) here today.
Also present was Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order Department (KDNKA) director Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri.
Mohd Khalid said PDRM was actively tracing the network of individuals involved in the activities in cooperation with Pakistani authorities.
Yesterday, international media reported that Pakistani authorities had detained 258 foreign nationals during a raid on a scam call centre in the Gulberg Green residential area on the outskirts of Islamabad.
Those arrested included 40 Chinese nationals and 170 Vietnamese nationals, as well as Malaysians and citizens of other Asian countries.
Meanwhile, Mohd Khalid said current trends showed that online scam activities increasingly involved foreign nationals, particularly those from China.
He said the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) in Cyberjaya receives more than 500 calls from victims daily, with every complaint followed up with a police report to enable the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) to take immediate action.
He said the scale of the problem was evident in the arrest of 182 foreign nationals last month who were allegedly attempting to turn Malaysia into a hub for online scam activities.
