KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — Police have arrested eight individuals, including four with the title of Datuk, in connection with the Mobility Beyond Imagination (MBI) scam and seized RM3.17 billion worth of assets.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said the suspects were detained under Ops Northern Star, a special operation by the IGP secretariat’s Anti-Money Laundering (Amla) division, following a red notice issued by Interpol on March 20.

According to The Star, police conducted several raids and froze hundreds of accounts and assets linked to the suspected Ponzi scheme.

"The police have frozen several assets and illegal profits believed to be closely linked to Ponzi schemes that went by ‘Pelaburan MBI’ (MBI Investment) that was based overseas,” Razarudin said in a statement.

He confirmed that all arrests and seizures were made within Malaysia.

Authorities froze 638 bank and share accounts worth RM1,160,166,195.74.

They also seized 35 properties valued at RM2,005,900,000.

Other confiscated items included 10 luxury cars, 12 luxury watches and cash in both local and foreign currencies.

The detained individuals, aged between 44 and 62, included two businessmen and two lawyers.

Last year, authorities extradited MBI founder Tedy Teow from Thailand to China to assist in investigations involving Chinese victims of the scheme.

In 2019, several Chinese investors travelled to Malaysia in an attempt to locate Teow and recover funds allegedly lost to MBI’s online pyramid scheme.

The investors alleged that around two million people in the country were defrauded by Teow in a scheme involving 500 billion yuan (RM307 billion).

Chinese police issued a red notice through Interpol on November 9, 2020, to arrest Teow.

MBI reportedly attracted investors from Malaysia, China, Thailand, Indonesia and Macau through dubious online investment schemes.

Teow operated various businesses including a hotel, theme park, resort, furniture outlet, and property development projects in Danok, near the Thailand-Malaysia border.

Thai police arrested Teow on July 21, 2022, for allegedly operating an online casino and engaging in money laundering after raiding MBI’s office in Songkhla.