KUALA LUMPUR (July 5): Police has arrested 10 Chinese nationals including the mastermind in connection with promoting a cryptocurrency investment scam at two condominiums around Cheras here, on Monday.

All arrested suspects, aged 19 to 40, are believed to have been active in the scam since May.

Cheras district police chief ACP Zam Halim Mohamed said the syndicate’s modus operandi was to target Chinese customers through phone calls and impersonate as customer service officers, and promote the investment in the Telegram application.

Speaking at a media conference at the Cheras district police headquarters, he said victims who were deceived had to pay RM65 (100 yuan) to open an account on the Bitcoin website www.icoin.com to be registered.

"After opening an account, they will be given an username and password to access the website," he said.

Zam Halim said victims would be asked after that to make a number of financial transactions with an investment package in the currency of the victim’s choice.

He said the syndicate was believed to have been operating in China and the police is still investigating the matter to determine whether the group that was carrying out activities in Malaysia had any connection (with the syndicate in China).

He said the syndicate was targeting 30- to 50 Chinese customers a day, to join the investment scam.

"The syndicate is able to earn 10% to 15% as commission, which is around RM50,000 to RM100,000.

"Of the 10 suspects there were arrested, only one has a valid travel pass. All of them were remanded for four days until this Friday, to help with investigations," he said, adding that the police also seized 21 mobile phones and several modems and laptops.