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Kuala
Lumpur. Malaysia arrested 83 people mostly from China and Taiwan over a huge
scam that netted billions of dollars, a day after authorities busted a major
betting and fraud ring, police said on Saturday.
The
suspects -- 75 Taiwanese, six Chinese and two Malaysians -- were held during
raids on four bungalows in Serdang on the outskirts of capital Kuala Lumpur
Friday, said federal commercial crime director Syed Ismail Syed Azizan.
They are
under investigation for running a fraud scheme, cheating people in China and
Taiwan out of billions of dollars by calling them to settle phony credit card
or other bank charges.
“We believe
there is local involvement in this case,” Syed Ismail said, adding all the
suspects were under detention and the foreigners, who came to Malaysia in early
March, faced deportation.
Last year
the syndicate is believed to have netted $3 billion in China alone with the
scam, said Syed Ismail, who said he had been informed of the amount by Chinese
police.
The group
originated in Macau but is believed to operate from other Southeast Asian
countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, Syed
Ismail said.
The arrests
followed a separate bust on Thursday in Kajang, near Kuala Lumpur, of a
football betting and fraud ring that police say could have raked in up to $1.3
billion.
Police held
about 150 people, almost all from China and Taiwan, following the Thursday
raid. The arrests are the latest indication of rampant illegal sports betting
in Asia.
Syed Ismail
said the Serdang syndicate targeted Friday was not involved in football betting
but that police had to move quickly after the Kajang raid.
He said
Malaysian police had worked with their Taiwanese counterparts to monitor the
group. When police arrived, the suspects were already getting ready to vacate
three of the four houses.
Dozens of
other people were arrested in another raid earlier this year in northern Penang
state and two raids last year in relation to the group that originated in
Macau, Syed Ismail said.
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