Two men from Malacca fell into a scam trap after believing in high-paying job advertisements in Cambodia, experiencing a horrifying process from job ads to being sold.
In April 2024, 24-year-old "Xiao Feng" and 26-year-old "Xiao Wei" were attracted by a social media advertisement claiming to be shoe salesmen in Cambodia with a monthly salary of up to $1,300 (about 5,800 MYR), and flew to Cambodia for work.
However, they soon realized that they had been lured into a scam park.
According to the two victims, it was only when they met that they discovered they were deceived by the same false advertisement. They were told they needed to meet sales targets and pay a ransom of $7,000 (about 31,000 MYR), or face more severe consequences.
However, due to underperformance, the two were unable to pay the ransom and were eventually sold to another scam group.
In the new group, they were forced to participate in designing romance and cryptocurrency investment scams, specifically targeting Americans. The monthly performance target was as high as $5,000 (about 22,518 MYR), with working hours from late night to early morning the next day.
During this time, they were forced to participate in 8 scam cases, defrauding about $40,000 (about 180,151 MYR). However, eventually, the two managed to secretly contact their families and seek help from the Malaysian Humanitarian Organization (MHO), successfully escaping the ordeal and safely returning home.
This incident highlights the increasingly covert methods of scam groups, with victims often stepping into traps due to believing in high-paying advertisements. Police and relevant organizations remind the public to be cautious when choosing overseas job opportunities to avoid being exploited by criminals.
