RM21.6 million Internet fraud: 34 suspects held in Malaysia, Singapore

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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and Singapore police arrested 34 suspects involved in the ‘African Scam’ with losses amounting to RM21.6 million in Singapore and five states in Malaysia.

The suspects were detained in Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Malacca, Sarawak and Singapore from Monday to Friday in a joint operation with Singaporean police.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said the 34 suspects comprised 13 Africans, 13 local women, seven Singaporean women and an Indonesian woman, all aged between 22 to 67.

Acryl Sani said all the African men entered Malaysia as private college students and the local women were the owners of bank accounts and posed as an authority to fool the victims.

He said the modus operandi of the syndicate, masterminded by the African nationals, was to get acquainted with the victims through social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and WeChat, he said at a press conference here yesterday. — Bernama