More than 50 Malaysians are being held captive in Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand by online scam syndicates, according to MCA’s Public Services and Complaints Department.
The department’s head, Michael Chong, said it received calls from some of the victims over the past two months asking to be rescued from captivity.
He said the victims were deceived with offers to work as telemarketers with salaries of US$3,000 to US$4,000 (RM12,600 to RM16,800) per month.
“We are working together with the embassies and Royal Malaysia Police to rescue those victims.
“We also appeal to young people to be more careful and not be easily cheated and blinded by the high salary that the syndicates offer,” he said at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
They are believed to have been in the hands of the syndicates for the past two to six months.
During the press conference, Chong (above) also made video calls to two men who claimed they were being held against their will by a syndicate in Cambodia.
One of them, who wants to remain anonymous, said there were 13 Malaysians including five women, aged between 17 and 36, in the same area as him who were forced to work as ‘scam operators’.
“We were told to scam our customers, and if we could not do that, we would be confined in a room without food for two or three days,” he added.
The other victim claimed he was with a different group of about 50 Malaysians including a woman, also in Cambodia.
He said they were taken to Cambodia by flight or through illegal land routes.
“We work more than 15 hours (daily) to cheat customers around the world. We must follow instructions or we will never know our fate,” the victim added.
- Bernama
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