Siblings held for online fraud cases involving losses of RM3.29 mln

MELAKA: Melaka police have detained two siblings, believed to be involved in fraudulent online sales, including selling disposable children's diapers, involving losses amounting to RM3.29 million.

State police chief Datuk Abdul Majid Mohd Ali said the suspects, a 38-year-old man, and his 36-year-old sister, were arrested in Ayer Keroh on March 8 following almost two months of intelligence and surveillance work.

"The arrest was related to police reports lodged by two civil servants after they were duped by the suspects for about RM838,000 in a deal to purchase disposable diapers on Facebook in 2016.

"The suspects convinced the victims by sending the stocks at the beginning of the sales, but after several transactions, they (suspects) started giving excuses of running out of stock until the victims felt cheated," he said at a press conference today.

Elaborating, Abdul Majid said after several police reports were made, the siblings disappeared and moved to several states.

He added that further investigations into the suspects found they were involved in 75 cheating cases nationwide and believed to have been active since 2005, as well as, using various modus operandi to cheat victims.

Among the scams committed by the siblings were car purchases, non-existent laptop sales, car rental businesses, smartphone purchase packages, travel packages as well as purchases of gold bars, and motor accessories.

"During the arrest, police also seized three mobile phones and a political party membership card with the brother's name on it with the title of Datuk," he added.

He said the brother, being the main suspect, has been remanded for four days until tomorrow, while the second suspect, who was the bank account holder, was given police bail for a month.

The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.-- BERNAMA