GEORGE TOWN: The suspected mastermind of the international Internet fraud arrested in Taiwan chose Penang as his base because most of the Chinese in the state speak Hokkien.

Penang police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Wira Ayub Yaakob said the Taiwanese man “picked” the state because members of his syndicate could blend in with the community since most Penang Chinese speak Hokkien and Mandarin.

“Hokkien is almost the same as Minnan (Taiwanese Hokkien).

“Besides the spoken dialect and language, the members had no problems with food, and many of them could also give the authorities the slip by coming in as students.

“There are many Chinese and Taiwanese students in private colleges and universities,” DCP Ayub said.

The mastermind of the fraud involving losses to the tune of RM10bil was arrested by Taiwan police on Jan 22.

It is learnt that the man nicknamed Huang was nabbed at the Tai Joo Airport in Taiwan on his arrival from China.

Earlier, Taiwan police said they used 10 Taiwanese citizens who were arrested in Malaysia in connection with the scam to lure the man back to the country.

The mastermind's arrest followed a raid at a centre in Penang on Jan 6, with the cooperation of Malaysian and Taiwanese police.

Contacted by Bernama yesterday, Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan confirmed the arrest.

He described it as a police success in combating fraud using the Internet and involving an international syndicate.

On June 6 last year, police rounded up 37 people in two simultaneous raids in Penang, believed to have involved in a syndicate dubbed the “Macau Cheats” led by a Taiwanese.

The raids revealed that a centre was used to make calls as the police found several communication equipment, including laptop computers, modems and mobile phones.

According to media reports, those detained in the two raids last year were five Malaysians, 22 Chinese and 10 Taiwanese.

Initial investigations revealed they had impersonated police or bank officers to cheat victims.