Malaysia nabs 5 Nigerian students for N125.2m internet fraud

According to a Vanguard report, the five students, all aged between 20 and 30, were pursuing Information Technology courses in a leading private college in Kuala Lumpur.

They were arrested on June 30, 2015 at different parts of the country including Petaling Jaya, Cyberjaya, Damansara and Kuala Lumpur.

The Penang Commercial Crimes chief, ACP Azmi Adam, said the police arrested two local women, aged 40 and 55, who owned the account used by the syndicate and seized five laptops, 20 hand phones, ATM cards, SIM cards and documents believed to have been used to con their victims.

He said the police got wind of the syndicate's activities from the owner of a 62-year-old victim ice producing factory owner in George Town who claimed he had been scammed by the syndicate.

READ: Nigerian student gets death sentence for drug trafficking

According to him, the syndicate had in a March email informed him that he was among 50 people chosen to receive RM15.9 million from the US government.

“The e-mail requested the victim to follow certain procedures to ensure he did not miss the opportunity. Convinced by the contents of the e-mail, the victim carried out 51 transactions involving money, to accounts numbers given by the syndicate before realizing it was a scam," Adam siad.

The police then launched operation ‘Ops Merpati’ and discovered during investigations that the syndicate had conned several victims to a tune of RM2.4 million.

Barely two months ago, a Nigerian student Mary George Unazi, was sent to the gallows for trafficking 765.9gm of methamphetamine.