SHAH ALAM, Aug 15 — The police believe that higher education students are being scammed by online syndicates into providing their account numbers for use as mule accounts.
“We believe these students were scammed; they did not intentionally provide their account numbers to the syndicates. They did not understand that their accounts were being used as mules,” said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said.
He was commenting on a report that there are 208,000 mule accounts nationwide, a portion of it belonging to students, during a press conference following the Graduation Parade and Certificate Presentation ceremony for the 2024 Ninth intake of Volunteer Reserve Police Inspectors at Universiti Teknologi Mara today.
Yesterday, Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf revealed that approximately 208,000 mule accounts have been identified nationwide.
A review by the authorities discovered that a number of these accounts belonged to students.
Previously, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the police detected cases where higher education students have allowed online fraud syndicates to use their bank accounts.
In a separate development, Razarudin announced that the investigation into the drug smuggling attempt at Tapah Prison using a drone on Friday (August 9) is still ongoing.
No arrests have been made yet, but several individuals have been called in for questioning.
On August 9, authorities intercepted an attempt to smuggle suspected drugs into Tapah Prison via a drone after a prison staff member discovered a bag suspended from a white drone on the roof of one of the blocks.
According to the police, the bag contained a plastic package with three packets of white powder, weighing 122g, believed to be heroin, and 12.9g of crystalline substances, believed to be methamphetamine.
— Bernama
