The Immigration Department has busted a syndicate believed to have earned up to RM15,000 a month by selling fake immigration security stamps for RM70 to RM100 each.
Three people, a local man and two Thai women aged between 40 and 45, were arrested in a special operation in Kajang and Pandan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur, on Nov 3, after a month of intelligence gathering on two homes.
The department said the syndicate forged the security endorsement stamps issued at the entry point at Bangunan Sultan Iskandar in Johor Bahru to mislead the authorities. It targeted foreigners without valid passes or who had overstayed, particularly Thai nationals.
The syndicate is believed to have promoted its service through WhatsApp. Customers only had to send in their passports, without meeting anyone, to avoid having their identities traced, and some may not have realised that the stamps in their passports were fake, the department said.
Items seized included two fake visit pass endorsement stamps, a fake exit endorsement stamp, rubber stamp sheets, two date stamps, five ink pads, six Thai passports, a Thai border pass, five mobile phones and two notebooks.
The local man is being investigated under Section 56(1A)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, while the two women are being investigated under Section 56(1)(l) of the same act.