Malaysia-based love scam syndicate allegedly targets Singaporean men, victims yet to file report: Malaysia police

A love scam syndicate operating from Kelantan, Malaysia, which was recently taken down by local authorities, primarily targeted Singaporean men.

As no victims have filed a police report, the authorities have yet to estimate the losses suffered, reported Bernama on Thursday (April 23). 

State police chief Mohd Yusoff Mamat said the syndicate worked from a resort in the Tanah Merah district, which they had converted into a call centre.

The centre was allegedly staffed with three supervisors and 55 operators and operated from noon to midnight.

In the ruse, scammers pretended to be Indonesian women and contacted their targets, believed to be Singaporean men, through social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin.

"Their modus operandi was to send messages such as 'hi' before building relationships through WhatsApp without video calls, and eventually deceiving victims into sending money," said Mohd Yusoff.

The con ran for about a month before Malaysian police raided resort premises on Wednesday morning.

Authorities said they seized 46 computers, five laptops, 118 mobile phones and several internet routers, including those with satellite internet.

According to the New Straits Times, 53 men and five women were arrested in the raid.

A total of 56 are foreigners, mostly from China, and two are Malaysians.

Of the foreign nationals, 23 did not have valid travel documents.

Investigations are ongoing.

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com