Sarikei man falls victim to job scam in Myanmar

SIBU: A man from Sarikei has fallen victim to an international job scam syndicate in Myanmar.

Sarikei OCPD Supt Awang Arfian Awang Bujang said that a woman, 34, had lodged a report on Thursday (Sept 21) claiming that her brother was now in Myanmar with several Malaysians who had been deceived by job offers and were being abused by their employers.

"Initial investigations found that the complainant's younger brother, who is the victim, was attracted by a job offer with a good salary on social media. The victim was tricked and brought to Myanmar by an agent offering a salary of RM3,000 per month," Supt Arfian said on Friday (Sept 22).

He added that the victims were forced to work as scammers and if they failed to reach their desired targets they would be fined or abused and forced to eat non-halal food.

The victim had told his sister that his MyKad and passport had been taken by the employer so that he could not escape.

"The complainant filed a police report because she was concerned about the victim's safety and requested the assistance of the concerned parties to bring him back to Malaysia," he added.

Supt Arfian said that the police would try to bring the victim home through cooperation with Bukit Aman, Interpol and the Malaysian Embassy in Myanmar.