Overseas job scam syndicates are estimated to cost Malaysia up to RM500 million (US$114.6 million) per year, according to Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil.
He said the saddest art is that the victims’ savings were also lost during such scams.
As a result, he cautioned Malaysians to be wary of any overseas job scams that may come their way.
Malaysians, Fahmi said, are easily duped by promises of better jobs and higher pay.
“On the contrary, when they get there (overseas) they are told to become scammers.
“If anyone is a victim of a scammer, there is no need to be ashamed. Come forward and make a police report. After that, meet me and we will try to help,” he said at the Lembah Pantai Parliament’s Chinese New Year Open House in Taman Sri Sentosa yesterday.
In December, the foreign ministry said it has received reports that 488 Malaysian citizens have been victims of job scam syndicates in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand as of Dec. 20.
According to the ministry, 359 of the 488 have been rescued.
It said in a statement that 331 had been brought back to Malaysia and 28 more were still in detention and assisting with investigations.
Syndicate victims who have been rescued so far include 227 in Cambodia, 61 in Laos, 38 in Thailand and 33 in Myanmar.
Victims who have been repatriated have reported living in what they have called “hell,” having their passports and cell phones seized upon arrival at a compound they were not allowed to leave, and having nothing with them but the clothes on their backs.
These scammers would force their victims to work 15 hours a day, and if they did not comply with their demands or their “sales” targets, they frequently starved, beat or electrocuted them with electronic batons, drugged them, raped them, or even killed them.
They are constantly watched, live in constant fear, and are forced to extort large sums of money from their family members in order to be released and return from their hellish ordeal.
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