KUCHING: They thought they would be offered lucrative employment opportunities in Cambodia. Instead, six local men were duped into working for a scam calling centre for a criminal syndicate there.
Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Mohd Azman Ahmad Sapri said on April 20 and 22 police received six reports from the victims’ families, claiming their family members were tricked into working in Cambodia.
“All six victims aged between 19 and 39, are from Kuching and Padawan. Preliminary investigations showed that the victims were offered job opportunities in Cambodia by alleged employment agents.
“The victims later travelled to Cambodia and upon arrival, they felt they had been deceived after being forced to do fraudulent work through phone calls,” he said.
Following that, the Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) opened two investigation papers under section 420 of the Penal Code.
Azman said the Bukit Aman CCID Secretariat/Legal Division would be taking action through Bukit Aman Interpol Division under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 2002, to track down the victims in Cambodia and arrest the employment agents.
He advised the public not to be easily fooled by job offer advertisements on social media as the syndicate made use of social media platforms to offer lucrative salaries and perks to trap the victims.
“Such tactics are used to lure victims into working with a particular company or individual without going through a complicated recruitment process.
“The job offered by the suspects often promises a lucrative income or salary. Unbeknownst to them (the victims), the offer only serves as bait for the scam syndicates to reap profits.
“Hence, always get detailed information in advance such as the background of the company and individuals before accepting jobs,” he said.
The public can contact the CCID Scam Response Centre at 03-26101559 and 03-26101599 or CCID Infoline at 013-2111222 (WhatsApp/SMS) to get advice or channel information on criminal cases online.
They can also visit the official portal of the Royal Malaysian Police (rmp.gov.my), CCID (ccid.rmp.gov.my) and the Sarawak CCID Facebook page to get the latest information and advice on the modus operandi of fraud cases.
Also present at the press conference were Sarawak Deputy Police Commissioner Datuk Mancha Ata, Sarawak CCID chief Supt Maria Rasid and her deputy DSP Jimpun Dian.
