KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 – A group of five Malaysians trapped by a job offer scam in Cambodia were brought back home by the Foreign Ministry and the Malaysian police on Friday, bringing the total number of those caught in similar scams in the region and brought back by the ministry to 346 so far, a statement from Wisma Putra Friday said.
The five, aged from 17 to 42, arrived at the KL International Airport (KLIA) on Friday, accompanied by a senior officer from the Foreign Ministry and a delegation from the Royal Malaysian Police Force (PDRM) who had had been on a working visit to Cambodia from January 24.
The Foreign Ministry advised Malaysians to be more careful when considering job offers that came with high salaries from doubtful sources in overseas, including those that came via social media, mobile applications and online.
The ministry said the 346 who had been brought home so far were victims of job scam syndicates in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.
The ministry also thanked the Cambodian government for its cooperation in the efforts to trace and rescue the Malaysians who had become victims to the job scams in the country.
The ministry said it viewed the problem seriously, urging people to make a report with the police or the ministry if they suspected any family member of having become a victim to overseas job offer scams.
Meanwhile at a press conference held at the KLIA on Friday, Director of Criminal Investigations Department, Datuk Seri Abd Jalil Hassan, said as of yesterday, the police had received 262 reports involving 330 victims of job scams, adding that 218 of these victims had been saved and there were still 113 victims stranded in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and other places.
–WE