KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 — A syndicate offering non-existent loans to unsuspecting victims, raking in as much as RM50,000 a day has been busted by the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigations Department (CCID).

The syndicate, which had only been operating since August this year, was allegedly responsible for at least 32 cases nationwide which incurred losses of RM434,486 before they were exposed.

CCID Deputy Director of Investigations Deputy Commissioner Datuk Saiful Azly Kamaruddin said police broke the scam last week.

He explained that the syndicate targeted individuals who entered personal details into websites offering loans with quick approval. 

The syndicate would then get in touch with their potential victims either through the instant messaging application Whatsapp, or phone calls.

From there, negotiations would be done only over the phone with victims required to provide the lenders with their personal information and documents such as payslips.

“Before obtaining the loans, victims would first be asked to make several deposits into accounts managed by the syndicate.

“Victims are told these deposits are for an array of reasons such as stamping, approval, and processing fees, and including payments to allow them to bypass the CTOS and CCRIS ratings,” Saiful Azly said in reference to the federal and private credit rating systems.

He said the syndicate would then cease all contact with the victims once the deposits have been made, or if victims were too hesitant to part with their cash. 

Saiful Azly then revealed how the syndicate were supposedly beginning to diversify their activities, when a cache of drugs worth RM337,345 were seized during raids into the fraud.

“Some 6,270 Erimin-5 pills, 1,735 Ecstasy pills and in powdered form, and 1.1 kg of Ketamin powder were seized from properties linked to the syndicate.

“We believe the drugs were meant for distribution within the Klang Valley,” he said.

In total, 16 men and five women aged 17 to 27 were arrested from raids spread across one landed property and eight condominium in Kajang and Batu 9, Cheras.

Three vehicles were also seized along with mobile phone, laptops, and ATM cards.

Saiful Azly then advised the public to not be greedy and only approach licensed companies when looking to obtain loans, saying RM36 million has already been lost to such scams in 2018 alone.

He revealed in the entire 2017, some RM37 million was lost to non-existent loan scams, with RM17.5 million lost in 2016.