KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — Two individuals detained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) over money laundering recently are believed to be scam syndicate coordinators targeting victims from China.

Bukit Aman CID director Datuk Huzir Mohamed said both men, known as Addy Kanna and Goh Leong Yeong, were coordinators and agents tasked with preparing residences and call centres equipped with computers and telecommunication equipment. Goh, who is also known as Alvin, was the man who escaped by scaling the fence of MACC headquarters on October 11.

"Both of them targeted victims in China and not victims from this country. It is inaccurate for certain parties to assume that online scams in this country involve these two individuals because the crimes in this country were committed by other fraud syndicates,” he said when contacted by Bernama.

He added that police investigations also revealed they were involved in preparing Internet services to Chinese nationals hired by scam cartels in China.

According to him, allegations that Addy Kanna would be released was untrue, as he is now detained under the Prevention of Crime Act (POCA) 1953. Meanwhile, police are intensifying efforts to track down Goh.

Shedding light on the syndicate’s modus operandi, Huzir said the call centres, which operated from offices and luxury residences, would target Chinese citizens for online gambling and other scams.

He said this when asked about a video allegedly between an online scammer and a victim, in which the scammer claimed that Addy Kanna would be freed without problem because of his connections to political leaders.

He rubbished the video, saying that the police would reveal more details on the men’s illegal activities in the near future. — Bernama