JOHOR BARU, July 14 — Police rescued a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl believed to have been sexually abused and forced to work as members of an online sex fraud and extortion syndicate through an operation dubbed Op Bugil carried out here and in Kulai from June 20 to July 1.
Johor Police Chief Datuk M. Kumar said another victim, a 26-year-old man, was also rescued.
He said nine suspects, two of whom were women, were arrested.
According to Kumar, investigations found that the syndicate had been operating since November last year, recruiting locals, including minors, as scammers with salaries ranging from RM2,200 to RM4,000 per month.
He said the syndicate also offers them to work abroad, including in Laos, with a more lucrative salary of around US$2,500.
“The victims were recruited for an online sex fraud with the syndicate creating fake social media accounts for extortion purposes. They were locked up, forced to eat chilli and sexually abused, including being stripped naked, and all these actions were recorded for the purpose of extortion,” he told a press conference here today.
Kumar said the victims were forced to work 12 hours a day with only one day off after two weeks, and had to sleep at work and were prohibited from leaving except on designated holidays, while their identity cards and mobile phones were taken from them.
Meanwhile, Kumar said the syndicate carried out their fraudulent activities by using women to lure the victim to make obscene video calls on social media and then hacked the victim’s mobile phone after clicking on the link provided.
“This syndicate would send a link to the victim’s mobile phone, and when the victim clicked on it, the syndicate could access the contact list and photo gallery on the mobile phone. The syndicate then threatened to distribute pornographic video recordings of the victim if the victim refused to pay them,” he said.
Kumar said 27 mobile phones of various brands, personal documents, plane tickets, currency exchange receipts, a sum of cash, a laptop, 49 SIM cards, employment books, as well as vehicles, were also seized throughout the operation.
Further investigations were ongoing, he added. — Bernama