Malaysia Ops Magpie: Police Take Down 112 Scam Call Centre Syndicates, 932 Arrested in 13 Days

Malaysian police took down 112 online scam syndicates running call centres in Ops Magpie 01/2026 and arrested 932 people over 13 days, from 19 to 31 October. Only 106 of those held are Malaysians; 826 are foreigners. The totals came from Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa, director of Bukit Aman's Commercial Crime Investigation Department, in Kuala Lumpur on 12 November. They cover the whole country. Sarawak's share, seven call centres and 42 arrests, was announced in Kuching the same day.

Who was arrested

Chinese nationals made up the largest group by far, according to The Star: 538 of the 932. Vietnamese came next, at 93, followed by 40 Taiwanese. Most of those held worked the phones. Police counted 809 operators or customer service staff and 70 supervisors or group leaders.

Where they worked, and whom they called

Officers carried out 153 raids against a target of 100. Condominiums were the usual base: 106 of the raids were on them.

The calls went mostly abroad. Of 144 target-country records, 130 involved victims overseas and 14 in Malaysia, with China the biggest target at 62. Among the methods police logged, investment and love scams were joint top at 27 each, just ahead of phone scams.

What was seized

Raiding teams took 2,058 mobile phones and 433 laptops or tablets. Cash seized came to RM102,635.

Cases in court

Of the investigation papers opened, 45 have gone to the charging stage and 70 are still under investigation. The national count of people charged hasn't been given. Bernama's report says the cases fall under Section 420 of the Penal Code, read with Section 120B, which cover cheating and criminal conspiracy.

What police tell the public

Anyone who has been scammed should call the National Scam Response Centre on 997 straight away and lodge a police report. Police also ask people never to share banking details, passwords, OTP or TAC codes with anyone they don't know.