NILAI: A man who tried to offer a RM200,000 bribe for the release of five members of a scam syndicate has been arrested.
State police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohamad Mat Yusop said the suspect, in his 30s, was detained at a petrol station in Bandar Baru Nilai on Saturday.
“He was arrested for attempting to offer a bribe to the police. We will hand him to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for further action,” he said.
A police team had earlier raided an apartment and arrested five suspects, including two women, aged between 21 and 24, over a non-existent investment scheme.
Police also seized 15 mobile phones, two laptops and RM2,473 from the suspects.
“Initial investigations showed the group has cheated people with a non-existent investment scheme on Facebook.
“They would contact potential victims via WhatsApp and use bank accounts of other individuals to run the scam,” DCP Mohamad told reporters yesterday.
The syndicate is believed to have been operating here for the past six months.
With the arrest, police believe 11 cheating cases linked to the racket have been solved.
Three of the cases were reported in Negri Sembilan and eight in other states, all involving local victims.
“People fell for the scam as the syndicate offered high returns,” he said.
Citing examples, DCP Mohamad said those who invested RM500 would get a profit of RM7,750 in as little as two days, and if they put in RM800, the returns would be up to RM14,080.
For RM1,500, the investor would get RM26,300 in returns while the profit would go up to RM63,000 with a sum of RM3,000.
Every few months, the syndicate would change the name of the investment scheme to hoodwink the public.“We believe there are more syndicate members and are tracking them down,” he said.
The five suspects will be investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
If convicted, offenders can be jailed for between one and 10 years, fined, or both.