Malaysian Police Nab Four Taiwanese in Banking Scam

Jakarta Globe, September 28, 2011

Kuala Lumpur. Police have arrested four Taiwanese in northern Malaysia on suspicion of running a phone scam into China, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The suspects, aged between 20 and 31, allegedly recruited around 80 Chinese nationals to impersonate bank or police officials, said Syed Ismail Syed Azizan, director of commercial crime at the national Bukit Aman police headquarters.

The accomplices would then call potential victims in China to try to obtain personal information, or get them to transfer funds into bogus accounts.

The syndicate had rented four shops in the north--eastern town of Penang which were used as a training and call centres.

The suspects were detained at an apartment in Penang on Tuesday and were being held for questioning, Syed Ismail was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper.

In June,  a coordinated crime-fighting operation across Asia, almost 600 mainly Chinese and Taiwanese nationals have been arrested over an Internet and phone fraud ring, with 177 of the arrests in Jakarta alone.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said that those arrested here on Thursday were believed to have duped their victims into transferring money to them on a variety of pretexts. Police located the perpetrators by tracing their IP addresses.

DPA, JG