Phone scam based here

By FONUA TALEI

The Fiji Police Force played an active role in the crackdown of a transnational telephone scam ring in six Asian countries and Fiji last week. A total of 482 suspects have been arrested in an operation involving police in Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Fiji. Masterminds behind the scam set up the host computer and circuits in Taiwan with calling bases established in Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia and Fiji. The amount of F$21 million (73m Yuan) was allegedly obtained from Chinese victims between 2010 and 2011 as a result of the scam. The scam came to light in November last year when a finance manager for an investment company in Suzhou, East China, reported to police that she had been cheated of F$3.7m (12.6m Yuan) through telephone fraud. The suspects, pretending to be staff from an anti-money laundering special work team, asked the finance manager to transfer the company’s funds to a “safe” designated account which she did. Unemployed young men from China were said to have been recruited with the promise of work abroad on tourist visas and high salaries. Police spokesperson, Ana Naisoro, confirmed to the Fiji Sun yesterday that a group of Chinese detectives had carried out investigative work in the country. “A Chinese police detectives delegation from mainland China was in the country early this month. With the assistance of our Criminal Investigations Department (CID), counterparts from Fiji they conducted their investigation in Suva and moved down to the West,” Ms Naisoro said. She said the group, upon completing investigations, left the country for China on Monday.