Held against their will: Guo Nan showing members of the press Wong and Alex’s location at a compound in Myawaddy, Myanmar, during a press conference in Ipoh. Looking on is Fun.
IPOH: The husband and wife are being kept in separate rooms, forced to do the job of love scammers.
Alex Low, 38, and his wife Wendy Wong, 34, are being held at a compound in a town called Myawaddy in Myanmar.
According to Wong’s cousin, a housewife who wished to be known only as Fun, there were armed guards at the compound.
“She told me that they are suffering. While they have not been beaten up, they were told to be obedient or they could get tasered,” said Fun, 32.
Wong managed to contact her on Facebook Messenger on Saturday, asking for help to save her and her husband.
“She told me that they are working as love scammers there,” Fun said, adding that were also a few other Malaysians at the compound.
“I am really worried for them and I hope the authorities can help get them back home safely,” Fun told a press conference held by Ipoh Barat MCA coordinator Low Guo Nan yesterday.
Fun said Wong and her husband had lost their jobs in Singapore during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and returned home in 2020.
“In November last year, they saw an advertisement promising salaries of up to RM8,000 to work in Dubai.
“They have two young children aged five and 10, so they had no choice but to try their luck in search of income,” she said, adding that this prompted the couple to go to Dubai.
“About two months later, their employer asked them whether they wanted to earn more money. They were flown to Thailand before being driven across the border to Myanmar.
“It was then that they realised they were being trafficked there to work as scammers,” she said, adding that their mobile phones and passports had been seized.
Guo Nan said he had accompanied Fun to lodge a police report on Saturday.
He said Wong managed to get the coordinates of her location and had sent them to Fun.
“I have emailed the information to the Malaysian ambassador in Myanmar, the Aseanapol and the Anti-Human Trafficking Division in Bukit Aman so that action can be taken to ensure the couple can be rescued,” he added.
