Some 23,259 investors have become victims of forex investment schemes with losses estimated to reach almost RM80 million.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigations Department director Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said the matter came to light after the police received 408 reports on the schemes handled by a company known as VenusFX.

"Investigations found that the company lures unsuspecting victims to make a minimum investment of between RM2,000 to RM40,000 and that profit payments would be made on a daily basis.

"The investments were made in foreign exchange, but the profits promised were not paid. Following this, we launched 'Operation Nuri' to combat the activities in several locations in Kuala Lumpur, Pahang and Selangor," he said in a statement.

So far, Acryl Sani said police had arrested five local men and a woman, aged between 28 and 38 years, in connection to the case.

All of them have been remanded for 21 days, he said.

"We also seized a laptop, 10 mobile phones, 10 ATM cards and five vehicles of various types worth RM750,000 in the raid.

"I want to remind the public to be alert and not to fall prey to such fraudulent investments," he added.

- Bernama