Of the number, 29 cases involved victims’ close contacts such as former spouses and acquaintances, 137 involved strangers and another 54 involved a syndicate working on social media.

Selangor police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed said this extortion syndicate would pounce on potential victims regardless of gender, age and race.

“The age range of the victims who were tricked by the syndicate was between 20 and 60 years old,” he said in a statement today.

Arjunaidi added that the syndicate would communicate with potential victims via social platforms, such as WeChat, Facebook, Michat, WhatsApp, Line, Tinder, Skype and Twitter, among others.

Specific social websites such as “GODATE2NIGHT” were also used.

He noted that victims were extorted for between RM3,000 and RM50,000.

The syndicate used both local and foreign banks such as Bank Rakyat Indonesia and moneychangers to avoid being detected by the authorities.