Cops may slap Poca on habitual con artists
KUALA LUMPUR: When a woman was arrested last week, she was thought to be the girlfriend of a Nigerian love scammer who posed as a Customs officer for the African scams syndicate.
But investigations revealed the 27-year-old suspect has deeper connections with the other syndicate members and was also wanted by police for 22 prior love scam cases.
Police are considering imposing harsher punishments against these habitual offenders, including using the Prevention of Crime Act (Poca) to detain them.
Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) (Intelligence and Operations) deputy director Senior Asst Comm Roslan Abd Wahid said the woman was arrested along with four Nigerian men aged between 28 and 40 during raids in the Klang Valley on April 4.
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“In a follow-up operation, police arrested three other women, including a Nigerian, who were all girlfriends of the Nigerian syndicate members.
“The three local women have 44 prior love scam cases between them,” he said.
A 26-year-old woman has 11 prior cases recorded in Johor and Selangor while a 39-year-old woman has 11 cases in Selangor, Perak and Johor. The Nigerian woman does not have any prior record and is believed to be a rookie in the business, SAC Roslan told The Star yesterday.
He said police believe these women were habitual offenders based on their previous records and they were inclined to commit these offences again.
“Based on the records alone, we believe we have a strong case against the women and are looking at detaining them under Poca.
“We are also in the midst of compiling our investigation papers against the Nigerian suspects. If we are successful, this will be the first time we use Poca to go after these criminals,” he added.
It was reported that a woman and four Nigerians were arrested in raids in Jalan Klang Lama, Cyberjaya and Damansara on April 4.
Police also seized four cars, 13 mobile phones, six laptops, four bank books and six ATM cards.
The syndicate has been traced to at least 43 cases nationwide that duped victims of RM950,000 to date.
SAC Roslan said police, when investigating love scam syndicates, would usually turn the female suspects against the ring and use them as prosecution witnesses.
“Once that is done, the women would go free. But it seems that these women kept going back to their lives of crime.
“Using Poca may act as a deterrent,” he said, adding that police were still analysing the information they have gathered.
He said the syndicate was not only duping victims in Malaysia but also targeting victims in neighbouring countries.
On the syndicate’s modus operandi, SAC Roslan said the suspects used a variation of love and parcel scams to dupe their victims.
“They find victims through social media and develop online relationships with them before conning them into wiring cash to them,” he said.
Between January and March, 581 love and parcel scam cases were reported involving losses of at least RM23.6mil.
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/04/12/cops-may-slap-poca-on-habitual-con-artists/#QUhEe6XlhtcF2oys.99
