46 M’sians in fake lucrative job offers rescued in Cambodia

BANGKOK: The Malaysian Embassy in Phnom Penh has, to date, rescued 46 Malaysians in Cambodia who were thought to have been duped by fake lucrative job offers overseas.

The Malaysian Ambassador to Cambodia, Eldeen Husaini Mohd Hashim, said there were more than 60 cases (of Malaysians allegedly falling prey to job scams) pending further action.

“We are working closely with the Cambodian authorities to facilitate their return home.”

In 2018, the embassy facilitated 47 Malaysians in a similar predicament. Fortunately, no cases were reported in 2020 and 2021 following the closure of borders during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The most recent case involved four Malaysians who were allegedly duped by syndicates that offered high-paying jobs in Cambodia. Aged between 29 and 41, they arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Saturday.

The syndicate’s method was to offer victims high-paying jobs overseas via social networking sites such as Facebook. However, when they arrived in the kingdom, they were forced to make telephone calls to con other people.

Those who fell prey to the scam realised they had been deceived but were not allowed to return to Malaysia and their families were forced to pay a ransom for their release.

Eldeen urged Malaysians to be watchful of job recruitment advertisements promising lucrative pay overseas.

“Check with the relevant authorities, including the embassy, to validate the job offers. Do inform your parents and relatives in Malaysia if you receive such an offer. They might be able to give you a valuable second opinion on whether the job offer is a scam,” he said.

Eldeen also thanked the Cambodian government for working closely with them.

He said initial investigation found that many Malaysians were still stranded in the kingdom after being duped by job syndicates.

“We are working closely with the relevant authorities to help them return home. However, the process of handling the cases differs and takes time,” he said.

For example, he said it would take time for the relevant authorities to verify the victims’ identities as most of them had entered the kingdom illegally and without travel documents.

“For people who break the law (immigration offences), they will be prosecuted and may have to serve jail terms here before they can return home,” he said. — Bernama