KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — Police arrested 10 individuals on suspicion of being involved in a fraudulent syndicate selling gloves on social media.
The suspects – eight men and two women including a Mongolian – aged between 21 and 40, were arrested in a series of raids conducted in Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Zainuddin Yaacob said during the raids, the police seized 12 units of mobile phones; 14 ATM cards; two cheque books; eight sets of various documents; three vehicles; a Companies Commission of Malaysia document; and RM6,106 in cash.
The police investigation found that the syndicate would attract buyers to buy gloves at cheap prices and deceive victims by using the name of a leading glove manufacturer in the country to attract buyers from within and outside the country.
“The syndicate members will then give various reasons so that the purchasing company will have to make a total payment worth millions of ringgit before they disappeared once payment received,” he said in a statement here yesterday.
Zainuddin said the Covid-19 pandemic had caused extraordinary demand for the supply and sale of essential items such as face masks and gloves around the world and the situation was seen as an opportunity for syndicate members to make a profit by deceiving their victims.
“Nowadays, glove fraud syndicates have become a growing criminal trend due to high demand from within and outside the country.
“As at March 14 this year, a total of 98 cases were reported related to fraudulent sales of gloves involving losses of more than RM120 million,” he said.
In this regard, the police once again advised the public not to be easily deceived by cheap sale offers from any parties and always check the authenticity of the transaction.
“Check the account and telephone verification first through the website ccid.rmp.gov.my/semakmule/ to if the account involved in a fraud case,” he said.
He said the public could also report to the CCID Scam Response Centre at 03-26101559 or 03-26101599 if they had information related to fraud syndicates detected on social media.
— Bernama
