State police chief Abdul Majid Mohd Ali said the suspects, a 38-year-old man and his 36-year-old sister, were arrested in Ayer Keroh on March 8 following almost two months’ of intelligence and surveillance work.

“The arrests were related to police reports lodged by two civil servants after they were duped by the suspects of about RM838,000 in a deal to purchase disposable diapers on Facebook in 2016.

“The suspects convinced the victims by sending the stocks in the beginning, but after several transactions, they started giving excuses that they had run out of stock,” he said at a press conference today.

Majid said after several police reports were made, the siblings disappeared and moved to other states.

He said further investigations found they were involved in 75 cheating cases nationwide and believed to have been active since 2005. They had also used various modus operandi to cheat victims.

The siblings were believed to have been involved in car purchases, laptop sales, car rental businesses, smartphone purchase packages, travel packages, gold bar sales and motor accessories.

“When arrested, police seized three mobile phones and a political party membership card with the brother’s name on it with the title of ‘Datuk’,” he added.

He said the brother, being the main suspect, had been remanded for four days until tomorrow, while the second suspect, who was the bank account holder, was given police bail for a month.

The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.