JOHOR BAHRU: Johor police have dismantled two online scam syndicates in Forest City in Iskandar Puteri and arrested 335 people, most of them foreign nationals, authorities announced on Tuesday (Jul 28). The suspects, aged between 20 and 58, were nabbed in an operation on Jul 15. They comprised 309 Chinese nationals, 19 Indonesians, four Myanmar nationals and three locals, said Johor police chief Ab Rahaman Arsad, as reported by local media. Of those arrested, 159 were expected to be charged on Tuesday. Rahaman said the two syndicates are not linked to digital nomad community Network School, which was ordered to cease all operations at its Forest City premises last week after state authorities revoked its business licence.The police raided 27 apartment units and five bungalows in Forest City, a sprawling integrated waterfront development, Rahaman said, as reported by Utusan Malaysia. “This operation had successfully crippled two different syndicates that carried out online scam activities such as fake cryptocurrency investment offers and ‘love scams’ targeting victims from abroad, especially China and Indonesia,” he said, as quoted by Malay Mail. The police seized 313 computers, 1,557 mobile phones, 17 laptops various other equipment and a Mazda CX-8 sport utility vehicle (SUV), said Rahaman.The two syndicates were believed to have employed different methods to target victims abroad, according to the Johor police chief.The first syndicate comprised 279 suspects who allegedly carried out love and crypto scams, according to Rahaman.The second syndicate involved 56 suspects, of whom 54 were foreigners. They allegedly impersonated recruitment agents and offered fake crypto investments, Free Malaysia Today reported. Some of the suspects did not possess valid travel documents.