A Malaysian man escaped the clutches of a job scam syndicate in Cambodia and made it back home to tell his story.
36-year-old Joe, who worked as a satay seller in Johor, said he was offered USD1,500 a month (~RM6,300) for a similar job in Cambodia, and the job was introduced by a friend.
Joe
Little did he know, his friend was earning a commission of USD2,000 (~RM8,400) for each victim that was sold to the syndicate.
14 hours of scam work, electrocution, and being forced to eat pork
In a press conference, Joe revealed that he had a 14-hour shift when he was in the “headquarters” in Cambodia, with his work revolving around scam calls. If he did not perform well, he would be electrocuted, a fate that many victims suffered.
He would also be forced to eat pork as part of his meals.
Everything was too good to be true, starting from the job offer itself. Joe landed in Cambodia on 5 April, during the fifth day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
His flight ticket was sponsored, and his friend also gave him RM2,000 cash. All was good until he landed in Cambodia, where his friend apologised through a phone call and admitted that he had to do what the scammers compelled him to do.
And so, Joe’s nightmare began before he was eventually rescued four months later in August
Before Joe was brought to the headquarters, he was given a drink that caused him to hallucinate, and he was placed in a luxury hotel.
“Upon arriving at the headquarters in Sihanouk, which was complete with dormitory facilities and technological equipment, I was forced to work making calls.”
“I posed as a police officer and an officer of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).”
Joe also shared that he needed to reach the target of RM50,000 to RM100,000 a month, or he would be tortured and locked in a room without food, only given a bottle of water. According to Joe, he noticed more than 40 Malaysians trapped in the headquarters.
Marina ibrahim, skudai adun (left)
While trying to escape, he and four other Malaysians were lucky when the syndicate gave them two mobile phones and informed them that they would be taken to the Laos border to be used as forced labour or beggars.
“That’s when we took the opportunity to contact Skudai assemblyperson (ADUN) Marina Ibrahim to ask for help getting us out of there.”
With job scam advertisements rampaging today, it’s wise to double-check the location and the background of the companies before signing on to anything.
