SEPANG: Five Malaysians were duped by a job recruitment agency and were forced to work for a scam syndicate call centre abroad.
Bukit Aman CID director Datuk Seri Abd Jalil Hassan said the five were rescued by police following a visit by a delegation from the police force and Foreign Ministry to Thailand recently.
"With the cooperation and coordination between the police, Foreign Ministry, and Malaysian Embassy in Thailand, the delegation went to Thailand from Feb 16 to Feb 19.
"The delegation was led by myself together with five officers from Bukit Aman CID," he told reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Sunday (Feb 19).
He said they managed to rescue the five Malaysians, consisting of four men and a woman aged between 20 and 40.
He said they met the five who were being held at a detention centre in Thailand and following discussions with Thai authorities, they were allowed to be sent home.
"Investigations revealed the five were scammed by a job recruitment agency here to work abroad legally for a salary of US$1,100.
"They travelled legally but when they arrived, they were sent to work for a call centre," he said, adding the syndicate had demanded they hit their daily targets.
Comm Abd Jalil said the syndicate would take away certain privileges including the use of their phones if they did not meet their target KPI.
"We have detected that two job recruitment agencies here were believed to be involved in cheating locals and sending them abroad to work with scam syndicates.
"We uncovered this following the arrest of several individuals last month.
"Our checks revealed the two agencies were operating with valid licences," he said, adding that the Police Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Unit was investigating this matter.
