KUCHING: Nur Mohammad Arif Bokhari was one of the few persons who attempted to escape from the house in which he and 46 of his compatriots stayed in Poi Pet, Cambodia.
Kept in the house and not allowed to leave, he wanted to escape after being informed by Chinese nationals there that they had been told to do illegal online gambling work.
The 23-year-old from Sibu left his job as a trader in his hometown and went to Cambodia hoping to be a chef in one of the hotels there.
A recruitment agency had asked Arif to pay USD300 (RM1224.75). The agency, believed to be a scam syndicate, made the flight arrangement for him and he went to Cambodia on Nov 12 last year.
As he arrived in Siem Reap, a person by the name “Mr PP” fetched him at the airport and immediately asked him to hand over his passport and cellphone.
“When I arrived at the house, they told me to wait for the hotel job. During that time, they asked me to help the Chinese nationals cook for the Muslims in the house.”
After a week of doing nothing but helping to cook, Arif asked the Chinese nationals when he would start work (at the hotel) but they told him they were supposed to learn how online gambling worked.
“The last week of November, I told Ezuan Ling bin Alias and another two friend (that it’s) better to run away because the thing they are going to do here might be illegal.
“It does not matter whether we have our passports with us, let’s get out of here and get help, I told them,” Arif said.
When night came, the four tried to break down the only entrance to the house, thinking the CCTVs at every corner of the house were not working.
A few minutes later, they heard someone opening the door from the outside.
“There were 18 of them, and one of them was an old man with the top part of his ring finger missing. I believe that could be their boss.
“Some looked like Chinese nationals and the locals there carried long steel rods and machetes, and I thought they would not harm us but just wanted to scare us.
“So I started to hit the old man. They got angry and started beating up the four of us. And one of them slashed my back with a machete.
“(Fellow scam victim) Abdul Mustaqqim Abdul Karim was the one who told them to stop the assault. Eventually, they did,” he said.
Arif said they did not even bring him to the hospital, and only gave him Panadol (paracetamol) which his friends crushed and applied on his wounds.
“So after the fight, I think the neighbours heard the commotion and reported it to the police.
“And that could be the reason police came to house on Dec 11 to check. That was the time we got caught. We were clueless,” he said.
It was indeed a bad experience for Arif as his dream to work as a chef in a hotel in Cambodia did not come true. Instead, he ended up as a victim of a job scam.
“After this, I will be more careful with any job offer. This experience has taught me not to simply trust anyone.”
Arif added that his next step would be to have a good rest first before looking for a job in Sibu.
