Kota Kinabalu: A GRS youth leader has expressed grave concern that Sabahans have fallen victims to job scams abroad.
National Armada Bersatu vice chief, Ceasar Mandela Malakun, said he learnt that some of them were still untraceable by their families.
“This is deeply concerning. I urge the families to lodge a police report if any of their members is missing,” he said.
He stressed that Sabahans must not allow themselves to be duped by job advertisements posted on social media that offer lucrative salaries.
“I think one of the rules of the thumb is to always be suspicious about all those job offers that sound too good to be true,” he said. Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah recently said that 148 cases were reported and out of those, 118 Malaysians who fell victim to job scams in Cambodia alone had been rescued.
Based on reports, some Malaysians have also fallen for job scams in other countries, such as Thailand and Myanmar.
Mandela, who is also the Political Secretary to the Sabah Chief Minister, said people can do a check on job offers and companies that offer them to ensure their legitimacy, through the assistance of Wisma Putra’s Unit BantuanKonsular Rakyat Malaysia di Luar Negara (
bkrm@kln.gov.my).
It has been reported that in Cambodia alone there are about 500 Malaysian companies operating in the country and 5,000 Malaysians working and doing business there.
Investigations by authorities have revealed that the victims were compelled to operate as scammers and realised the true nature of their jobs only after arriving in that country.
Victims who fell prey to the job scam syndicates were driven by desperation to earn an income to survive after losing their employment because of Covid-19.
“This whole job scam issue is human trafficking and modern-day slavery at its worst and must be condemned,” he added.
