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Three arrested over fake MC syndicate in Malaysia

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A suspect believed to be the mastermind behind a counterfeit medical certificate syndicate involving several government hospitals has been arrested by Malaysian police.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Mohd Sakri Ariffin, chief of the Selangor Commercial Crime Investigation Department, said the mastermind, who is in his 30s, had been running the operation for a year.

Some 600 copies of MCs, 100 rubber stamps carved with the names of various doctors, 29 MCs that had been stamped and signed and cash worth RM90 (S$29) were seized during a raid, reported the New Straits Times.

The suspect was arrested at an apartment in Gombak on Wednesday.

A couple, who were also involved in the syndicate, were arrested a day earlier.

MODUS OPERANDI

ACP Mohd Sakri said the modus operandi involved the mastermind stamping the MCs with a doctor's name and leaving the rest of the contents blank.

"The copies are then passed to the couple to sell to customers.

"When a customer purchases an MC, the suspects will fill up the name and the number of days requested.

"The charges for a one-day MC is RM30.

"This can go up to RM100, depending on the days requested by the customer," ACP Mohd Sakri told a press conference at the Selangor police headquarters on Friday.

The tip-off came from a police report filed by a private company, where an employee had submitted a 14-day MC for a common cold.

ACP Mohd Sakri said police later found that the fake MC serial numbers did not match the serial numbers used by the hospital.

All three suspects had no past criminal records and will be in remand till today.

The case is being investigated for falsification of documents.

malaysiafakeforgeryUncategorisedDoctors