SHAH ALAM - The Selangor police busted a syndicate selling automatic teller machine (ATM) cards for use as mule accounts with the arrest of 16 individuals including two bank officers in raids around the Klang Valley and Gombak last week.
Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said the suspects, aged between 20 and 30, comprised 15 Malaysians, including three women and a Nigerian woman.
He said the modus operandi of the syndicate, believed to be active in buying and selling ATM cards in the Klang Valley area, is to buy bank accounts and ATM cards from any individual for a price of RM1,000 to RM1,500 and then sell them to syndicates for up to RM8,000 per card.
Regarding the two bank officers, he said it was found that they had helped to open 40 accounts over the past six months ago and charged about RM250 for each ATM card they processed.
"From investigations, it is also found that five of the bank accounts seized during the raid were used in 15 cases of online fraud involving a loss of RM2.3 million.
"All transactions took place between February and March this year in eight states, among them Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Kedah, Perak and Johor,” he said.
All the suspects have been remanded and the case is being investigated under Section 420/120B of the Penal Code which provides imprisonment for up to 10 years and can be whipped or fined or all three, if found guilty.
Hussein reminded the public not to be easily deceived by offers to rent bank accounts and ATM cards with lucrative offers advertised on social media. - BERNAMA