KUALA LUMPUR: Police have busted a GHC Forex and cryptocurrency investment scam syndicate, seizing assets worth RM51.2 million.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said the group was known as "Gang Wong".
Police arrested 10 locals, comprising eight men and two women aged between 28 and 51, for their suspected involvement with the investment scam syndicate.
The operation, conducted by the Anti-Money Laundering Criminal Investigation (AMLA) team and the Secretariat Office of the IGP, Bukit Aman, involved several raids across the Klang Valley from May 13 to 21.
Razarudin said all suspects have been remanded for three to seven days under Section 4(1) of the Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLATFPUAA) to assist in the investigation.
From the raids, police seized 129 vehicle certificates with exclusive registration numbers worth RM18 million, 75 branded watches valued at RM10 million, 18 luxury vehicles of various brands worth RM9 million, RM503, 001 in cash, 203 motorcycles worth RM406, 000 and 10 branded handbags worth RM90, 000.
"We also seized foreign currency including 320,000 Japanese yen, 3,940 Thai baht, 455 Turkish Lira, 290 Chinese yuan, 305 US dollars, 27,000 Korean Won, 200 Singapore dollars, and 200 Australian dollars, along with 10 chequebooks, 12 mobile phones, and computer equipment," he said at a press conference at Menara KPJ here today.
Razarudin said actions has been taken to freeze 33 bank accounts totaling RM10.7 million and seize cryptocurrency worth RM3.5 million at current value, believed to be the proceeds from the investment scam activities.
The total amount of frozen and seized assets is RM51,213,176.
Razarudin said the syndicate, which has been operational since around 2017 and is based in an Asian country, laundered money through various methods, including the sale or purchase of high-value registration numbers and luxury watches.
He said based on the investigation, this money-laundering syndicate conducted illegal money transaction using methods such as the sale and purchase of high-value exclusive and classic registration numbers and the sale and purchase of high-end branded watches at a watch shop located in Bukit Jalil.
"This syndicate transferred funds from illegal activities from the foreign country to Malaysia using unregistered money changers and cryptocurrency transactions.
"They also invested money in a 100-acre durian plantation and used unregistered money changers to convert cryptocurrency to cash as a modus operandi to evade law enforcement," he said.
He added that the proceeds from these illegal activities were also used to purchase properties within Malaysia, which are still being traced.