Key facts
- Malaysia's Forest City, a $100 billion mega-project, is largely vacant, with less than 1% of its intended population.
- Malaysian police raided two alleged scam operations in Forest City in mid-July, arresting 335 people.
- The arrested individuals were involved in cryptocurrency investment and love scams targeting victims abroad.
- Seized assets included computers, mobile phones, and other electronic devices valued at approximately one million ringgit.
- Experts describe the scam operations as resembling multinational corporations with dedicated departments for recruitment, IT, and money laundering.
Malaysia's Forest City, a sprawling $100 billion development initially pitched as a luxurious 'dream paradise,' has largely become a ghost city, with its vast, vacant skyscrapers now reportedly housing sophisticated scam operations. In mid-July, Malaysian police raided two alleged cryptocurrency scam hubs within the development, arresting 335 individuals, including 309 Chinese nationals, and seizing assets worth approximately one million ringgit.
These operations, described by experts as resembling professional multinational corporations, were allegedly running investment and love scams targeting victims abroad. The arrests highlight a growing trend of organized crime professionalizing and utilizing underpopulated urban projects for their illicit activities. Authorities are collaborating with Interpol to track down the masterminds behind these syndicates.
Experts and locals suggest that the very emptiness and privacy offered by Forest City, coupled with its modern infrastructure and international connectivity, make it an attractive location for scammers, particularly those displaced from other regional hubs like Cambodia. The project, spearheaded by Chinese developer Country Garden and a Malaysian partner, has struggled to attract residents due to factors including the COVID-19 pandemic and China's property market downturn.
Analysts note that these scam syndicates leverage the veneer of legitimate economic activity in such developments to operate with a degree of impunity, generating significant profits that allow for further professionalization and expansion of their criminal enterprises.