Police have detained two local women suspected of running non-existence orphanage donation fraud amounting to about RM500,000 in two separate raids on Wednesday.

Petaling Jaya police chief ACP Nik Ezanee Mohd Faisal said both suspects, aged 34 and 24 were picked up in Kajang, Selangor and Tanah Merah, Kelantan.

He said their scam was exposed earlier this month after a 72-year-old businessman found the contributions he has been donating to the suspect for three orphanages since 2017 are fake.

“The businessman and his friends had gone to the locations of the purported orphanages in Tanah Merah, Kelantan, Simpang Empat, Penang and Ipoh, Perak, for a visit and found all locations did not exist,” he said in a statement yesterday.

He said the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code and one of the suspects has been remanded for four days while another was released on police bail.

-- BERNAMA