BALIK PULAU, July 31 — Police arrested two men and a woman for willingly becoming mule account holders for several fraud syndicates, which caused victims to lose RM307,816, in separate incidents, recently.

Barat Daya district police chief Supt Kamarul Rizal Jenal said all three, aged 30 to 38, were arrested separately around the state, on Monday, by the Commercial Crime Investigation Division team.

He said that all three suspects were arrested following police intelligence and reports made by three individuals who fell for various fraud syndicates.

“In the first case, we arrested a 30-year-old man, after a syndicate used his mule account to defraud victims in non-existent online investments, linked to a police report in Sungai Pinang.

“The victim was duped to bank several transactions online, to different accounts totalling RM132,844.45, before making a police report,” he told Bernama yesterday.

Kamarul Rizal said that the second case involved the arrest of a 32-year-old man for his mule account having been used by a phone scam syndicate, to frighten victims into submission through police impersonations.

He said police received a report from a male victim in Bayan Baru, who transferred RM101,000 online into a mule account after he was threatened with arrest in a non-existent criminal case.

“The arrest of the 38-year-old woman for her mule account having been used in a non-existent online money-lending syndicate, involved a case in Balik Pulau, where the victim parted with RM73,972 sent into different bank accounts, including the woman's,” he said.

All three individuals are now remanded to assist in investigations under Section 420 of the Penal Code, which is fraud. — Bernama