In January, 23-year-old Mah (not his real name) boarded a flight that would land him a lucrative job at a casino in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Or so he thought.
The Sibu native was told about the job by a friend and so he took the plane from Singapore to Phnom Penh before travelling down to Sihanoukville, a port city in Cambodia’s southwest.
Instead of a well-paid casino job, Mah found himself ensnared by Cambodia’s scamming rings and suffered seven months of harrowing confinement and torture.
Sharing his experience at a press conference in PKR’s headquarters yesterday, Mah said he only learned he would be working for a fraud syndicate instead of a casino when he was brought to the “compound” which turned out to be the site of an operation run by ruthless Chinese scam syndicates.
On arrival, Mah said he was handcuffed and strung up in a dark room, beaten, and subjected to electrical shocks after he refused to work and obey the syndicate’s orders. He was denied food and sleep for two days.
He and another Malaysian victim of the Chinese gangs shared their experience at the press conference to urge others to be wary of job offers abroad.
According to PKR’s Teruntum assemblyperson Sim Chon Siang, who hosted the press conference, the scam syndicates located in Cambodia were aimed at defrauding people in China of their money.
With the severe Covid-19 restrictions and border controls in China however, the syndicates turned to “recruiting” Chinese speakers from places like Malaysia, Taiwan, and Macau to conduct their scams.
Mah said he was forced by the syndicate to sign a document stipulating that he would have to pay large “compensations” if he violated the terms of the agreement or performed poorly in his job to defraud their victims.
The “compensation” amounts from US$17,000 to US$28,000 (RM75,752 to RM184,768), and this sum would determine his “price” should he be later “sold” to another syndicate.
He was also told by the syndicate to lie that he was from Sichuan province in China because apparently Chinese citizens fetch a higher “selling” price.
Mah was sold from one syndicate to another five times. He said he witnessed other victims kill themselves in despair, and also heard rumours of female victims being sexually violated during his time with the syndicates.
Short-lived ‘freedom’
While on the job, he secretly used his work phone to contact his family in Malaysia, who then lodged a police report and contacted Sim for help.
After the police report was lodged, Mah was briefly rescued by the local police and was held in a lockup for four days.
However, the respite was short-lived as the syndicate “bought” Mah from the police and forced him to record a video declaring that he wants to remain and work in Cambodia.
Back in the compound, he was brutally beaten with brass knuckles and then “sold” to another syndicate two days later.
When Mah was trafficked for the fifth time, he was sold to another Chinese syndicate in Myanmar for US$58,000 (RM258,448).
Along the way, he met another Malaysian victim Foong (not his real name) who had arrived in Sihanoukville in May.
The 17-year-old from Perak said he was abducted in Sihanoukville after he accepted a “casino” job offer which was advertised on Facebook.
He flew from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Bangkok. From there, he was driven for many hours. It was only later that he would learn he had been smuggled into Cambodia. The distance from Bangkok to Sihanoukville is about 650km.
According to Foong, there were more than 20 buildings in his compound. A high fence runs the perimeter of the compound and guards barred anyone from leaving.
Due to his poor performance in defrauding people, Foong was “sold” to other scam syndicates five times in three months. He often suffered beatings and torture, and was also told to lie that he was from Guangdong province in China.
Escape in Thailand
Like Mah, he was eventually “sold” to a syndicate in Myanmar.
Along with Mah and Foong, there were four other victims from mainland China and one from Taiwan who were smuggled to Myanmar from Cambodia via Thailand.
After being brought across to Thailand, the seven made their escape at a border checkpoint on the pretence of going to the toilet.
Mah and Foong then went to a nearby shopping mall where they converted the little amount of US dollars and Malaysian ringgit they had for 700 baht (RM87), which they used to buy a SIM card to contact Sim.
On receiving the call, Sim, who was worried that the duo would be too exposed at the shopping mall and could be tracked down by the syndicate, instructed them to take a taxi to a safe hotel to wait for his arrival.
He booked the hotel for them online as the duo only had 200 baht (RM25) left on them and a RM50 note that Mah did not want to give away for sentimental reasons.
“That RM50 note has been with me for seven months. I miss Malaysia whenever I see it,” Mah said.
Mah also revealed there are still many other Malaysians held in Cambodia and hoped that the Malaysian authorities would come to their rescue.
“It is not a place for humans,” Foong added.
At the press conference, Sim thanked the Malaysian embassy in Thailand and a Malaysian businessperson identified only as Wong for helping to resolve Mah and Foong’s illegal crossing into Thailand.
Both were fined 27,000 baht (RM3,358) each but were spared imprisonment. They returned to Malaysia on Thursday.
Lack of action
Sim revealed that when Mah’s family pleaded to him for help, he had sent the relevant information to the Malaysian embassy in Cambodia. However, the embassy replied that Mah had been rescued but opted to remain in Cambodia.
According to Sim, the Cambodian police forced Mah to “confess” that he was working in Cambodia willingly. Otherwise, he would not be released from the lock-up.
“It seems like the police have something hanky-panky going on with the syndicate,” said Sim.
Sim indicated that he would write to the Cambodian government to demand an explanation for its police’s supposed complicity in sending Mah back to the scam syndicate.
He also urged the Malaysian government to explain its negligence in addressing the issue of Malaysians being abducted to engage in illegal activities abroad.
“I have 11 cases with me. A total of 11 people has come to me to complain, and I have furnished all the information to the embassy. Why is there no action? I don’t understand, how can this happen?” he said.
He noted other countries like Thailand were able to repatriate their citizens from criminal syndicates in Cambodia within a week of being alerted to their plight.
Sim said he received phone calls every day from people pleading for help, with callers saying that their relatives have been stranded in places like Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, and the Philippines.
“What is our foreign minister doing about this? I hope the Malaysian government takes this matter seriously.”
Meanwhile, PKR central leadership committee member David Cheong, who was also at the press conference, urged the government to take decisive action on the issue, noting it has been going on for some time.
“This is a disgrace to our government. We are talking about people being bought and sold, not fish or poultry.
“It is embarrassing that the Malaysian government appears impotent in resolving this issue to this day.”
Cheong said the Communications and Multimedia Ministry must take action as well, since the syndicates were using social media platforms to trick people into participating in fraud. - Mkini
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