Three Pinays in Malaysian online love scam may remain in custody for two more weeks

The three Filipinas and 10 foreigners who were arrested earlier this week for alleged involvement in a so-called Internet love scam in Malaysia may remain in custody for the next two weeks, an official said on Thursday.

The police had remanded the 13 suspects to facilitate the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Department's investigation into the syndicate’s activities, Malaysia's New Straits Times reported.

Remanded as well were 47 other suspects under the Immigration Act.

The investigation showed the syndicate would court women through social media, and promise to give them expensive gifts.

However, the syndicate will tell the victims the gifts had been seized at Customs, and that they needed money to release them.

"The victims will  be coaxed into transferring money several times," police said.

The investigators have started analyzing 30 laptops seized from the suspects during Monday's raid to check for more evidence about their activities.

Earlier this week, police and immigration operatives arrested 52 men and eight women from Nigeria, South Africa, Philippines, Thailand, and Uganda during the raid on the syndicate.

The police said the racket had been the subject of 332 Internet scam complaints from January to April, and had caused some RM51.3 million (P698.337 million) in losses this year.

It was also the subject of 967 complaints involving RM 40.9 million (P556.764 million) last year. - VVP, GMA News