KUCHING, March 16: Employees of five major banks in the country have been found to be in cohorts with an international syndicate, facilitating scammers with illegal transactions of up to RM1 million per day.
According to national daily the New Straits Times (NST), this came to light following the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission’s (MACC) recent operation codenamed Ops Tropicana.
It is reported that at least 20 employees of the banks – including auditors and frontline officers – had facilitated these syndicates in opening accounts which were later used by the scammers to collect deposits made by victims.
These bank officers were paid RM1,000 to RM2,000 for each successfully opened new account.
NST said these bank officers who had facilitated the scammers to reap about RM200 million within three months, were also reported to have ignored suspicious transactions.
At the same time, it is reported that the MACC had identified seven to eight dummy companies set up by the scammers to open bank accounts.
Accordingly, these companies which are registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia would be used to promote fake investment scams.
NST said the syndicate made up mainly by Australians, Britons, South Africans and Filipinos, was active in various countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. — DayakDaily
