‘He pulled a pistol on me in Bangkok’ - trafficking victim

Max Thian’s online friend, whom he had known for over a year, asked him to visit Bangkok, Thailand in August to travel and hang out.

But when he arrived and entered a taxi that he was told was prepared for him, a man drew a pistol on him.

“After he took out the pistol, I couldn’t do anything,” Thian told reporters at a press conference in Parliament.

Surrounded by three men, he was forced to comply with instructions to get into a sampan in a river, which was used to whisk him away to Myanmar.

He remained there for three months, where he worked as a scammer until he was rescued and returned to Malaysia.

“In one day, we would work for 16 or 17 hours. But because of the war there, the office opened up and allowed everyone to run out.

“Then we contacted the Malaysia International Humanitarian Organisation (MHO) and it prepared documents for us to return here,” he said.

In his work as a scammer, he was told to target “customers” in TikTok or anywhere else.

Forced to comply

The first step was to establish trust by becoming friends with the intended victim or to lure them into a romantic relationship.

“Once you have gained their trust, they you ask them to ‘invest’. 

“You give them documents to see investments with profits,” he said.

Victims will be asked to invest smaller amounts like RM1,000 to 2,000 and then given a “profit”. But after that more money will be taken from them.

Those who refused to do the work would be beaten or prevented from sleeping for up to three days, he added.

When asked if he was ever beaten, Thian replied in the negative.

“I didn’t get beaten. Whatever they told me to do, I just did,” he said.

There were many ways that Malaysians would be trafficked to the “golden triangle” of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, he said.

“But what is important is that when you reach Thailand, then there is nothing you can do (to prevent yourself from being trafficked),” he explained.

There were people of other nationalities there, such as those from China, but there were only eight other Malaysians, he said.

However, not all of the Malaysians were rescued. Thian said there were two who disappeared.

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Voluntary scammers

Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung, who organised the press conference, said he had two recommendations to prevent Malaysians from being trafficked.

Firstly, awareness campaigns should be conducted at airports to encourage potential victims to have second thoughts about their trip.

Secondly, the Home Ministry should introduce a cooling off period of two years to prevent those rescued from travelling to the “golden triangle” countries, Lee said.

Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung

This was to prevent them from becoming victims again, he said.

“There are many cases, including those which the Royal Malaysian Police revealed, that are repeated,” he said.

However, Lee did not have the statistics as they had never been announced.

“But we don’t want government facilities to be taken advantage of. 

“Some have been saved and then went back after three months. Then they have to be rescued again.

“How many times do you want to be saved?” he added.

MHO public relations officer Daniel Khoo, who was also at the press conference, revealed that about 80 percent of Malaysians who were trafficked had voluntarily left to become scammers. - Mkini