KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 ― A man masquerading as a Datuk Seri from the Immigration Department was detained by the police for allegedly trying to swindle a restaurant manager who wanted to renew the work permit of his foreign workers recently. 

It was the second time the man, who masqueraded as "Datuk Seri Chong Man Kok", 53, was detained by the police for allegedly impersonating as a staff of the Immigration Department, said Dang Wangi police chief ACP Zainol Samah during a press conference here today.  

Zainol said, "The suspect had a track record involving 10 similar cases when he was 29 and had been detained in 1992", besides being on the wanted list since two years ago for his involvement in a similar crime in the Ampang district. 

The suspect was detained in Bukit Bintang at 2pm on Tuesday, wearing the corporate jacket of the Ministry of Home Affairs and upon inspection was found by the authorities to be in possession of fake Immigration Department name cards.

"From the inspection conducted, the suspect was found to have used the name 'Yang Berhormat Datuk Seri Chong Man Kok' on forged department name cards to convince his victims," he said and added that the police also seized a total of RM663 in cash from the suspect.  

Zainol said the suspect's modus operandi was to masquerade as an officer of the department, and would roam around the Putrajaya and Bukit Bintang Office seeking employers who wanted to renew work permits, then, after being paid, he would flee without processing the victim's application. 

He said the suspect offered his services for a price of between RM 600 and RM2,000.  

The police believed that there were many others who had been cheated by him, and urged his victims to lodge a police report to facilitate investigations, he said. ― Bernama