KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 21 people were arrested when a scam call centre operating out of two luxury residences here was raided by Bukit Aman. In a press conference today at the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) headquarters, its director Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said that one of the 21 was local. He added that 17 of the arrested were Chinese nationals while the remainder are from Hong Kong, Laos and Myanmar.

“All suspects are aged between 22 to 37 and are believed to be working as customer service agents for the call centre. The local suspect was found to be the caretaker and runner for the centre,” said Comm Ramli. The group had been operating a cryptocurrency investment scam, with operations being less than a month old.

He added that the investigation showed that the residences were used as they had two sets of gates and far from the main road, allowing them to operate away from prying eyes. “They were also found to have located potential victims via phone applications such as Tinder and 9monster,” he said. Victims were then told to download the Bitbank and CoinCheck investment applications.

“Investigations also showed Japanese victims. All suspects entered the country with social visit passes. They were paid commissions at around 20% of the total money scammed,” he said.

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