Luxury condos used as base for scam calls, says Malaysian police
KUALA LUMPUR – Most of the scam call centres raided in Kuala Lumpur were located at luxury condominiums and apartments, said the Malaysian police.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Allaudeen Abdul Majid said it was bewildering that such criminals were allowed to operate in such prestigious locations when, in fact, it was hard for regular people to even enter such premises.
“In luxury condos, not just anyone can have access to the place, so how is it that foreigners are even allowed to operate their call centres there?
“We urge the condos’ joint management bodies to take note and fulfil their obligations by not letting such criminal elements operate at their premises,” he said on Tuesday.
Datuk Allaudeen said the police would also investigate the possibility of security guards at such locations being in cahoots with the syndicates.
KL police will cooperate with relevant agencies including the commissioner of buildings to tackle the problem of call centres operating in condominiums, he said.
“I have also instructed KL Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) to step up operations against such call centres in the city. The scam syndicates operating these call centres will be dealt with,” he said.
Since January, KL CCID has conducted 1,311 raids on online crime syndicates in the city, Mr Allaudeen said.
He said police have detained 855 individuals for their involvement in scam call centres between January and September.
“In the last two months, some 20 raids were conducted on call centres with 342 individuals arrested,” he added.
On another matter, Mr Allaudeen said 10,955 individuals have been detained in the city for drug-related offences since January – an increase from the 10,614 arrested between January and September last year.
About RM60 million (S$17.18 million) worth of drugs was seized in the same period this year, he said.
He added that on Oct 19, the KL Narcotic Crime Investigation Department seized 208kg of drugs worth RM7 million.
Still, the crime index between January and September showed a reduction of 382 cases or 10.3 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Violent crimes had a drop of 121 cases, or 14.1 per cent. Crimes involving belongings also dropped 10.2 per cent this year compared with the same period last year” he said. - THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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