Johor cops bust online gambling syndicate, seven arrested during raids
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JOHOR BARU, Sept 27 — Johor police have crippled an online gambling syndicate’s call centre, which have raked in about RM2.4 million in profits since being active in the last four months.
The call centre is said to have 7,000 online gamblers under them and is believed to bring in RM15,000 to RM20,000 in a day.
Johor police chief Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said police arrested seven suspects, including a woman, between the ages of 18 and 34, after raiding an apartment in Southkey here at around 10.15pm last Thursday.
“Initial investigations revealed that the seven suspects were employed as operators and were paid RM2,000 per month with a one per cent commission rate.
“Further checks showed that the apartment unit doubles as a call centre offering online gambling games to locals,” said Ayob Khan in a media conference held at the Johor police contingent headquarters here today.
He said that the syndicate had started operating since June this year.
He said the “operators” were also tasked by the syndicate to top-up their customer’s credit amount and also promote gambling games.
“All transactions were done through online banking from several local accounts that we have identified,” he said.
Ayob Khan added that police seized six computers, 35 mobile phones, two wifi modems, as well as a set of keys from the premise.
He said police were investigating the case under Section 4(1)(G) of the Open House Gambling Act 1953.
Between August 1 and September 25, the Johor police have carried out five raids on online gambling centres in the city centre here and also in Iskandar Puteri.
During the same period, the state police also arrested 28 local suspects, including eight women, who are mostly youth working at these call centres.
