Police in Malaysia have busted a text messaging spam ring accused of stealing almost $2 million from its victims.

"The group -- a Malaysian and 25 foreigners aged between 16 and 41 -- are suspected of raking in RM6.4m ($1.9m) between 2006 and April 2010 using fictitious lottery winnings as a bait for an advanced fee fraud, the Star Malaysia reports," writes The Register's John Leyden.

"Would-be marks were told they had won prizes from major corporations such as Petronas, Shell and Maxis," Leyden writes. "The messages said that victims needed to make payments into local bank accounts before they would be able to collect their supposed winnings, which never materialized."

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