Immigration officers busted a China-based online investment fraud syndicate and arrested 104 Chinese nationals operating it in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.

Sabah Immigration Department director, Muhamad Sade Mohamad Amin said the Immigration team raided a mall and two condominiums in Jalan Universiti Malaysia Sabah at 4pm.

“When ambushed, all them were at the height of their activities, believed to be going on for the past two months.

“The raid involving 41 immigration personnel was the result of public tip-off and intelligence. Seized in the raid were 916 mobile phones, 64 laptops and 28 personal computers,” he told reporters today.

He said the suspects were between 18 and 39 years old, and ten of them were female.

“During the raid, none of the suspects managed to escape as the law enforcers had surrounded the premises, and nothing untoward happened,” he said.

Muhamad Sade said the syndicate's modus operandi was to offer high and quick returns to the victims, whereby the suspects acted as (investment) operators and sent codes to the victims from certain Chinese websites.

“All those detained had entered the country using a social visit pass, but 69 of them were without passports or identification documents and to date, no one has come forward to submit their documents,” he noted.

He said all the confiscated items were seized under the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2001 (Amla), adding that the Chinese Embassy in Malaysia would be notified.

On whether the case was related to a recent similar arrest in Cyberjaya, Selangor, Muhamad Sade said the police were investigating the matter.

“We can see that their modus operandi is similar and all those arrested are also Chinese nationals,” he said.

- Bernama