The Hunt for Malaysia's Elusive Wildlife Trafficker
For more than a decade, one anonymous wildlife dealer has been advertising rare and endangered animals to thousands of followers online. But despite posting a prolific number of videos every year, they have remained almost impossible to trace.
In 2022, with the help of Bellingcat contributors Darcy White and Chris Osieck, we managed to establish that they were operating out of Malaysia. We also had a name. But to be certain of their identity, we needed more proof.
Revisiting the case this year, we finally found more corroborating evidence– all thanks to a single complaint posted by an angry customer demanding his money back.
To limit further amplification of his business, Bellingcat has blurred all handles and abbreviated his username to “BK.”
The Dealer
From birds to reptiles to primates– including lions, leopards, tiger cubs, house cats, weasels, raccoons, and donkeys– there appears to be no limit to the range of animals BK will traffic for profit.
Advertising online, BK frequently implies that they are in Malaysia. All their posts are in Malay, as are their customers’ comments. Their full username references a region in Malaysia. Their phone number may lack a country code, but its true Truecaller entry indicates Malaysia.
Promoting the buying or selling of any live animal on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, or WhatsApp violates platform guidelines. In Malaysia, it is illegal to promote the sale of wildlife as a business without a license, carrying a penalty of up to five years in prison.
We reached out to BK on all their social media accounts, to ask whether they operate with a license or not. Via their Telegram account, which is registered to the one number they promote in all of their adverts, they briefly replied: “Sorry u wrong person.” We also attempted to contact them via a Gmail address matching their full username, but received no response.
We contacted Malaysia’s Wildlife Crime Bureau, a branch of the Royal Malaysia Police, as well as the Ministry of Biodiversity and Forestry, asking if BK is registered as a licensed dealer. At the time of publication, neither authority had responded.
Even if BK has a license, questions as to why they feel the need to operate under an alias also remain unanswered.
BK was similarly unresponsive when asked about adverts related to vulnerable and endangered species, including this clouded leopard. With only thousands left in the wild their numbers are rapidly declining.
According to Malaysia’s Wildlife Conservation Act, possessing or dealing in any wildlife listed as “totally protected” requires a specific license for each individual animal. Keeping one clouded leopard, for example, without a permit carries a fine of up to RM500,000 (US$112,000) and a prison sentence of up to fifteen years.
When shown BK’s adverts, Eugénie Pimont, a Wildlife Cybercrime Officer at IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) immediately expressed concern about the conditions in which the animals were being held.
“You don’t need to be an expert to know that clouded leopards, that are considered ‘vulnerable’ to extinction, like this one in the photo, have no place in a tiny, barren cage,” she said. “These animals belong in the wild, yet instead, they are trapped in cramped, miserable conditions where many suffer and die from stress, injury, or neglect.”
BK has also previously advertised gibbons, another “totally protected species”. All gibbon species are either vulnerable or endangered. The pet trade, which often involves taking infants from their mothers, has been identified as a significant factor in the decline of this species.
On Facebook, while BK’s main account has 3,500 friends, they are also the admin for several groups, one of which is devoted to the trade of exotic animals. Its banner image–one of BK’s own adverts–features an infant dusky leaf monkey, yet another endangered and “protected species” under Malaysian Law, found only on the Malay Peninsula.
Yet despite BK’s considerable online presence, they are careful to keep their identity and location hidden.
BK directs all of their customers to a single phone number, conducting their business on WhatsApp. They include only close-up images of the animals in their adverts, making them nearly impossible to geolocate. They also frequently share screenshots of their conversations with customers, including videos of them unboxing their animals for the first time.
Such videos are a core part of BK’s advertising strategy and have helped them build a reputation as a trustworthy seller.
By analysing the customers’ videos, we geolocated one image to Bangkok, Thailand.
Given that this geolocation suggests BK may be operating over the border, we contacted Thailand’s CITES Management Authority office for comment. (CITES is an international agreement between governments aimed at ensuring that the trade of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival). They responded saying they would review the case, but offered no further remarks.
Despite geolocating one of BK’s customers’ videos, we were no closer to confirming their identity or place of operation.
One Account, Two Names
Trawling BK’s Facebook profile, deep in the comments, we found a tagged account named “Noor Hasni B.”
Hovering over the username “Noor Hasni B,” a pop-up appeared, displaying the profile “BK,” indicating that the two accounts were actually one in the same.
At some point, the account “Noor Hasni B” must have been renamed to BK.
Looking further back in BK’s profile history, we realised this had happened multiple times: wherever the username “Noor Hasni B” was tagged, hovering over it revealed the profile “BK.”
Given that the most recent (and final) instance of “Noor Hasni B” being tagged was in August 2016, it is likely that the profile name was changed shortly afterwards.
The “B” in both BK and “Noor Hasni B” stands for the same thing, though we are not publishing the full name of either account to limit further amplification.
A search for variants of the username Noor Hasni B then led us to a PDF file hosted on the G-Shock Fan Club Malaysia website, an unofficial community site for watch enthusiasts.
The document includes dozens of club members who signed up between 2015 and 2017, listing their full names and Facebook user profiles. Among them, the username “Noor Hasni B” appears alongside the full name Mohamad Ridzuan Bin Norizan.
In May 2016, BK– who typically only posts animal adverts– uncharacteristically made five Facebook posts in a single month about G-Shock watches.
Who is Mohamad Ridzuan Bin Norizan?
Older Facebook posts confirm a connection between BK and another user, Putra Klang.
Putra Klang’s full username is Putra Klang (Mohamad Ridzwan). Translated from Malay, Putra means son or prince, and Klang is a city and district in Malaysia.
In 2011, Putra Klang posted a Facebook life event marking his first meeting with BK–who, as multiple tagged comments suggest, was known at the time as “Noor Hasni B.”
Reviewing his past posts, including those related to friends and family, makes it clear Putra Klang and Noor Hasni B had children together.
In 2014, three years after they met, Putra Klang began posting wildlife adverts.
We reached out to BK across all platforms, asking whether they are the creator of the account Putra Klang and if their real name is Mohamad Ridzuan Bin Norizan. We also attempted to contact them via a Gmail address matching their full username. This Google account was used last year to leave a review for an optical store in Klang, Malaysia, and was also likely used to create a Pinterest account, again matching BK’s full username. We received no answer via email. The only response came via Telegram and stated just: “Sorry u wrong person”.
Despite establishing strong links between the name Mohamad Ridzuan Bin Norizan and all three usernames–BK, Putra Klang, and Noor Hasni B, we still had no evidence of the exact location of the account operator in Malaysia–until one very angry customer began posting on Facebook.
A Selfie, A Cage, and A Customer Complaint
Two years later, with few new leads since the initial investigation into BK began, Bellingcat discovered a complaint. Posted on Facebook, the customer’s comments not only corroborated our earlier findings but enabled us to geolocate several photos, suggesting a connection between BK’s operation and a single house.
Posting screenshots of their WhatsApp conversation on Facebook, the customer claims he paid BK for an animal that never arrived.
BK’s reply says there were issues with the delivery. But after much back and forth, BK stops responding, at which point the customer threatens to “go viral.”
The customer then proceeds to post 37 images across multiple wildlife groups– including photos of BK’s house, his family, and several documents, some of which include blurred bank details– all calling BK “a scammer”.
Many of the details posted by the customer corroborated our initial findings.
The customer claims that BK’s full name is Mohamad Ridzuan Bin Norizan, which matches the name in the G-Shock Fan Club Malaysia PDF, as well as the URL and full username of Putra Klang’s Facebook account. He alleges BK’s main Facebook account used to belong to his ex-wife, under the username Noor Hasni B, before BK took it over. He also shares photos of what he claims to be BK’s house.
The customer says he got the address from payment details given to him by BK. He then went to the property, took photos, and posted them online to put pressure on BK.
Despite the customer blurring the house number and not posting the exact address, we were able to geolocate the house in Klang, Malaysia.
We then matched this same house and geolocation to a selfie posted by Putra Klang (Mohamad Ridzwan) on Facebook in 2013.
The earliest date available in Google Street View is from 2017, but it can still be used to match many of the details in the selfie posted by Putra Klang (Mohamad Ridzuan).
We then confirmed the same address by way of a cage, which is visible in both Google Street View and a photo posted by BK in his exotic animals Facebook group, of which he is the sole administrator.
Google Street View, March 2019, the cage can be seen once again, but without the pink paint.
This single house, including its cage, is flagged multiple times as a possible location in BK’s operation– through the angry customer’s complaint, the geolocated selfie posted by Putra Klang (Mohamad Ridzwan), and the cage visible in both the Google Street View and the advert posted by BK in his exotic animals Facebook group.
Given BK’s clear breach of the rules on the social media platforms on which he operates, Bellingcat contacted them for comment. TikTok said it had removed BK’s account for “violating our guidelines.” Meta also suspended BK’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, telling Bellingcat: “Bad actors constantly evolve their tactics to avoid enforcement, which is why we partner with groups like the World Wildlife Fund and invest in tools and technology to detect and remove violating content.”
However, within hours of the platforms taking down BK’s content, he was back up, posting animal adverts on a new account simply called BK.2
We contacted TikTok again, which then suspended BK.2’s account. Pointing out how easily BK had reinstated his business, TikTok responded, “We enforce our policies through a combination of automated and human moderation.” Last October, TikTok announced a shift towards greater use of AI in content moderation, after Reuters reported that the company had laid off hundreds of employees in Malaysia, most of whom were involved in the firm’s content moderation operations.
At the time of publication, Telegram had not responded.
After reviewing BK’s adverts, Eugénie Pimont, a Wildlife Cybercrime Officer at IFAW, said, “This cruel and exploitative trafficking not only causes immense suffering on wild animals but also threatens the survival of many species.”
Given her concerns, we contacted Malaysia’s Wildlife Crime Bureau, a branch of the Royal Malaysia Police, for comment. We also reached out to the Ministry for Biodiversity and Forestry, which oversees local CITES enforcement, and the Royal Malaysia Customs Border Control department. At the time of publication, none of the authorities had responded.
Additional reporting by Chris Osieck, Darcy White and Carlos Gonzales.
Bellingcat is a non-profit and the ability to carry out our work is dependent on the kind support of individual donors. If you would like to support our work, you can do so here. You can also subscribe to our Patreon channel here. Subscribe to our Newsletter and follow us on Bluesky here and Mastodon here.