KUCHING: Sarawak has recorded two new cases of job scam victims after five months.
This was disclosed by George Lam, the special assistant to Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii, at a press conference here yesterday (June 25).
He said his party was contacted for assistance by the families and partner of the two victims, identified as 23-year-old Kueh and 37-year-old Hou.
Both were lured to Thailand with false promises of employment as a lorry driver and an administration officer, respectively.
“When I engaged with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officers, they informed us that Sarawak had gone more than five months without a case like this. Today, we have two new cases.
“From what the victims’ families and partners have told us, it appears that a Facebook account named ‘Fish Ball’, which I believe is fake, has been posting job vacancies on Facebook pages,” he said.
Lam explained that these scams involved posting legitimate-looking job vacancies on social media, a new strategy employed by the syndicates.
He advised Malaysians to exercise extra caution when encountering job offers promising high pay.
He also urged the government to increase awareness campaigns, especially in Kuching, to better inform and protect people from being deceived into traveling to other countries for such jobs.
“People here are too naïve with job scams and I believe public awareness is very much needed for them to be well educated,” he said.
Based on previous experiences with job scam cases, Lam expressed concerns of a possible link-up with the authorities at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
“We suspect that the victims were instructed to go to a special immigration counter at KLIA to facilitate their exit from Malaysia to Bangkok,” he said.
Lam however said this has not been confirmed but hoped the Immigration Department would conduct an investigation into the matter.
