JOHOR: Teenage school dropouts were among those lured by supposedly high-paying jobs offered by a syndicate running a sex scam.
These teenagers were recruited through social media with promises of a monthly salary of RM2,200 to RM4,000, said Johor police chief Comm Datuk M. Kumar.
They were also told that they could earn up to US$2,500 (RM10,637) once they became more skilled and were sent to work abroad, he added.
In reality, these recruits were trained to “hunt” for victims via fake social media accounts and persuade them to perform sexual acts on video, he said yesterday.
Comm Kumar said these recruits were confined and made to work for the syndicate for 12 hours a day.
“If they refused to cooperate, they were beaten, forced to eat chillies and subjected to sexual abuse. They were only allowed a day off after two weeks of work but even then, their movements were strictly monitored,” he said.
He said the recruits’ mobile phones and identification cards were confiscated by syndicate members, thus preventing them from seeking help.
“If they wanted to quit, they had to pay RM30,000 to be released from employment,” he said.
Comm Kumar said the syndicate’s modus operandi was to create fake social media accounts of attractive women to entice people into making sexually explicit video calls.
“During the video call, the syndicate member would persuade the victim to perform sexual acts, all of which were recorded and later used to blackmail him for money,” he said.
“The syndicate member would send phishing links to hack into the victim’s mobile phone. Once the person clicked on the link, the syndicate would hack into his mobile phone, gaining access to the contact list and photo gallery.”
The syndicate would then threaten to distribute the videos to the victim’s entire contact list if he refused to pay up.
They would attempt to extort the victim by asking for RM500 to RM1,000 each time, he said.
Based on police intelligence, Comm Kumar said a series of raids were carried out between June 20 and July 1 around Johor Baru and Kulai.
This led to the arrest of seven men and two women aged between 17 and 50, including the mastermind of the syndicate, which had been active since November last year. He said three recruits aged 15, 16 and 26, who had also been sexually exploited, were also rescued.
He urged the public not to be easily taken in by high-paying job offers, especially those circulated on social media, and to always verify the background of these so-called companies.
“And do not be misled by the profiles of seemingly attractive women on social media, as syndicates use fake accounts to send phishing links that steal data from mobile phones before extorting from you,” he said.
