ISKANDAR PUTERI, Jan 31 — District police here have crippled a nationwide syndicate based in Taman Bukit Indah that offered non-existent cash loans with the arrest of 11 members aged 17 to 28 last Sunday.

The scammers succeeded in conning borrowers into parting with a total of RM1.302 million.

Iskandar Puteri police chief Assistant Commissioner Dzulkhairi Mukhtar said the syndicate pretended to be an established credit company offering cash loans.

“Initial investigations revealed that the syndicates’ used a non-existent fake company under Syarikat G Credit (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd to deceive their victims.

“We believe that the syndicate has been in operation for the past six months and have involved 162 cases,” he told a news conference at the Iskandar Puteri district police headquarters in Nusa Bestari here today.

During the raid, police seized various equipments, including mobile SIM cards, smartphones and a printer from the suspects.

Investigators also detected that the syndicate also prints a fake Inland Revenue Board (IRB) stamp certificates to convince the victims that the loans offered are safe and in line with the law.

Dzulkhairi said the syndicate had been active in Iskandar Puteri and was believed to have moved from one residential area to another to prevent their activities being detected by the authorities.

He said the syndicate’s modus operandi was contacting victims and offering easy cash loans to their victims.

“After the victim has sent their documents through WhatsApp to the syndicate, the suspect will then contact the victim and state that the loan has been approved and ask the victim to pay RM300 to RM500 allegedly to pay a tax where the suspect will use a fake IRB certificate and send it to the victim.

“In addition to that, the suspect would then request that the victim to pay up to RM3,000 as insurance payment to cover the loan agreement before the loan amount can be credited,” explained Dzulkhairi, adding that the case is being investigated under Section 420 of Penal Code for fraud.

Based on checks, Dzulkhairi said each suspect in the syndicate was paid a basic salary of RM1,500 and was also entitled to a commission of between 5 per cent and 10 per cent.

He said that 53 cases of cash loan fraud were reported in the Iskandar Puteri district last year, with an estimated loss of RM700,000.

“As of January 19, eight fraud cases were reported with an estimated loss of RM32,000,” he said.