Police said today they had conducted major raids arresting more than 30 foreigners for operating Internet and other scams that snared victims across the Asia-Pacific.

Some 380 police, immigration and religious officials made the arrests in raids from Monday to Wednesday on 38 houses in and around Kuala Lumpur.

Twenty-nine suspected African nationals, two Indonesian women and three Malaysians were detained for investigations into scams soliciting money, and for possessing counterfeit money.

Police said they were also investigating the detainees for breaching immigration laws.

"We were acting on information about some cheating cases against Malaysians and also foreigners," said a senior police official from Malaysia's Commercial Crimes Investigation Department, which led the raids.

"This is a combination of a few groups. They might be from several groups with the same modus operandi," said the official, who asked not to be named.

The official said scams included emailing people in the Asia-Pacific region to solicit funds.

Fake vaccines

Some were sold fake vaccines for animals, while others were told they had won lottery prizes and had to pay fees or were coaxed to deposit money into bank accounts in Malaysia.

The 29 detainees, including two women, were believed to be holding fake passports from Nigeria, Tanzania, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Germany, the official said.

"They are all African, which part of Africa we don't have the actual information yet," he said.

The department's director Ramli Yusuff said in a statement that officials had to act since the Africans were using Malaysia as a base for their operations.

"These scams will tarnish Malaysia's image in the eyes of foreigners, especially tourists, which can cause huge losses for the country's tourism industry," Ramli said late Wednesday.

"From feedback from the local community, we frequently hear of the rude behaviour of African nationals who mix freely with local women and commit vice and break shariah laws," he added.

The official said the foreigners, who had not yet been charged, were being held by police in Kuala Lumpur pending the investigation.