Malaysian victims in online scam

tuesday June 29, 2010
Malaysian victims in online scam
OTHER NEWS & VIEWS
Compiled by TAN SIN CHOW, LEE YEN MUN AND A. RAMAN

HONG KONG police busted an international online scam syndicate which has conned at least 160 people, including Malaysians, of some RM8.7mil, reported Nanyang Siang Pau.

Authorities nabbed 13 men, aged between 20 and 60 years, who were also involved in money laundering activities.

The syndicate, which has been operating for a year, is based in Hong Kong with several members still at large in China, Taiwan and South-East Asian countries.

Sin Chew Daily reported that police also seized 17 bank account books, 38 ATM cards, and HK$107,000 (RM45,000) during the two-day operation.

Investigations showed that the syndicate would first notify the victims in an e-mail that they had won a huge sum of money.

However, they would first have to deposit 1% of the winning prize money as processing fee in order to collect the sum, with one victim having paid up to RM1.25mil.