KUALA LUMPUR: There are 168 Malaysians stranded outside the country as victims of overseas jobs scam syndicates, police said today.
Secretary of the police force, Noorsiah Saaduddin, said a total of 238 Malaysians had been victims of the job scams. Of that number, 70 had been rescued by the police.
She said investigations showed that victims are lured through career advertisements on Facebook into taking up a post as a customer service officer abroad with a lucrative salary.
“Victims who are interested in the offer will contact the agent through the messaging applications. After getting the victim’s consent, the agent informs them that it will manage and bear the cost of travel to the job destination,” she said in a statement today.
Noorsiah said upon arrival at the destination, all travel documents and the victim’s phone will be confiscated and eliminated. Next, the victim is locked up, and their movements are restricted.
She said victims who are aware of the deception by agents were eventually forced to work for online gambling syndicates and scammers for investment fraud, love scams and others.
Noorsiah said police are working with the foreign ministry, Asean police network and Interpol to locate and bring home the stranded victims.
“Family members or acquaintances of victims who have any information are advised to file a police report if they have not done so and should not deal directly with the syndicate or unknown persons,” she said.
Noorsiah said six people, including two local women, were arrested on Aug 3 on suspicion of being involved with the same syndicate.
The suspects, aged between 33 and 45 years old, have been detained to help in investigations, she said. Police seized cash, mobile phones, laptop computers, modems, routers, and flash drives. - FMT
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