Lured by Amsterdam scam - Lucrative job offer comes with a big shock for Malaysian

SEPANG: When 25-year-old Alif was offered a job at a hotel in Amsterdam with a salary upward of US$1,500 (RM7,160), he jumped at the chance. After all, he could see the Netherlands and have a job as well.

Then came the shock.

Amsterdam was just a stopover and Alif only realised that he had been tricked when he reached the doorsteps of the Macau scam syndicate in Lima, Peru, on Sept 29.

After his passport and mobile phone were confiscated, his ordeal at the hands of the syndicate began.

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Luckily for Alif, though, his ordeal lasted just over a week. He was among 43 Malaysian victims rescued by authorities in Peru on Oct 7 and flown home to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) yesterday.

Recalling his ordeal, Alif said he had seen an advertisement on Facebook offering US$1,500 to work at a hotel in Amsterdam.

“I clicked on the link in the advertisement and was redirected to the Telegram messaging application where I applied for the job. All contact and details were given via Telegram until I collected my ticket and flew off to Amsterdam,” he said at KLIA yesterday.

Once he reached Amsterdam, Alif was put on a connecting flight to Lima, Peru.

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“Someone picked me up from the airport and once I reached the house, they took my passport and mobile phone away.

“It was then that I realised I had become the victim of a job scam,” he said, adding that he noticed that there were other people living in the house.

Alif said he was provided with food but noticed that the house had high security.

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“The house was surrounded by electric fences which made it almost impossible to escape,” he said.

Alif was one of three victims who were brought back to Malaysia. The other two – both 23-year-old women – were clad in face masks but were in high spirits when they arrived at the KLIA arrival hall.

It is learnt that the Peruvian police conducted the raid on the house after an unknown number of victims escaped and went straight to the police.

A total of 43 victims – consisting of 26 women and 17 men aged between 18 and 30 – were rescued from the house in La Molina there.