Three held over unlicensed money lending activities

IPOH: Police have arrested three people, including a woman, suspected to be involved in online unlicensed money lending activities and making criminal threats to victims, through the Ops Vulture carried out at Desa Aman Puri, Kuala Lumpur on Jan 3.

Perak police chief, Datuk Mior Faridalathrash Wahid, said after three weeks of intelligence gathering, conducted by Perak contingent police headquarters' Commercial Crime Investigation Department, the police managed to arrest all suspects, aged 22, in an apartment at 5 pm.

He said the syndicate is believed to have turned an apartment into a call centre for illegal online money lending activities.

"The syndicate charges loan interest of 25 to 30 per cent within 10 days from the date the loan is made, and is believed to have made criminal threats and abusive language against the borrowers, family members, and friends of the borrowers who failed to make the repayments.

"It has been operating for almost two years, and often changed its place of operation and used various company names when offering loans online," he told a press conference, here, today.

Mior Faridalathrash said that police also seized seven handphone units of various models, two computers, a laptop, two modems and five SIM cards.

He advised the public not to entertain online offers of loans via social media such as Facebook and Instagram.

"The public should not provide personal details, such as name, IC number, email, or banking information for online loan offers, but is advised to make loan deals at licenced money lending offices or the nearest financial institution," he added.

-- BERNAMA