Police in Perak arrested 36 people across three raids on scams that used fake hospital calls, chat-app investments and loans that demanded ATM cards and PINs.
Police in Perak, Malaysia, say they broke up three separate scam groups in one week and arrested 36 people. One group posed as hospital staff and told victims a relative needed emergency surgery. Another pushed a fake investment through TikTok and Telegram. A third asked loan seekers to mail in their ATM cards and PINs.
Perak police chief Datuk Mohd Alwi Zainal Abidin gave the details at a press conference. Five Japanese men, aged 21 to 27, were arrested on October 26 at a two-storey house in Kampung Simee. Twenty-five Chinese nationals were arrested on October 23 at a factory in Bercham. Five local men and a Thai woman were arrested on October 22 at two apartments in Kampar.
Police say the hospital group had been active since late September. The loan group allegedly operated since June and recruited agents on Facebook, paying them RM3,000 to RM5,000 a month. Its bank accounts were linked to five fake loan cases in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Sabah. Student apartments in Kampar were allegedly used as its base.
From the hospital group, police took 16 mobile phones, seven iPads and two routers, worth RM22,500. From the investment group, they took 25 computers and four routers, worth RM25,000. From the loan group, they took 13 phones and six ATM cards, worth RM15,000.
The lessons are simple. No real lender needs your ATM card or PIN. No real hospital should demand urgent payment through a chat app. If someone claims a relative is in trouble, hang up and call that relative or the hospital using a number you find yourself. Be wary of investments that start on social media and move to a private chat.
All 25 people in the investment case were remanded for seven days, from October 23 to 29. The cases are being investigated for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property under Section 420 of the Penal Code, and for criminal conspiracy under Section 120B. Those convicted could face up to 10 years in prison, whipping and a fine.
Never share a PIN or send urgent money over a chat app. Verify any emergency call through a number you look up yourself.
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