Electrocuted and beaten: Rescued Malaysians describe job scam nightmare in Myanmar

The 45-year-old man from Johor who only wish to be known as Teo, said he was tricked into believing he would be offered a translation job in Thailand with a salary of RM7,000 in August 2023.

Recounting his ordeal of over 16 months to Bernama, Teo said he was attracted to a Facebook advertisement for a translator position in Bangkok with a trading company, which claimed he would only need to stay in Thailand for a week.

"I contacted a person named Alex from the advertisement, who told me that someone would pick me up from the airport as soon as I arrived in Bangkok.

"But I started to suspect something was wrong when I was taken on a six-hour journey from Bangkok's airport, changing vehicles three times, before arriving at Mae Sot near a river. Later, I was forced to cross into Myanmar and was trained to become a scammer," he told Bernama when met at Fort Vachiraprakan military camp in Tak Province, northern Thailand, on Sunday.

Teo said he was required to work 14 hours a day, with his daily task being to sort approximately 10,000 phone numbers for the syndicate.

He said the only payment he received was a living allowance of 5,000 baht for the first three months, and anyone who attempted to escape would be punished.

"Anyone who failed to complete the assigned tasks would be punished by the supervisors, including being electrocuted, beaten, or confined naked in a dark room," he said.

Another Malaysian rescued from the syndicate, known as Mohd Shahdan, 29, from Kuala Lumpur, said each person was assigned different tasks while his task was to search for phone numbers listed on social media.

"After obtaining phone numbers, I was required to chat with at least 70 individuals daily, from 10 am until 3 am the following day before I was allowed to sleep.

"They electrocuted and caned me when I failed to meet the target of obtaining details from potential scam victims," he said while showing his scarred and bruised arms to the writer.

Shahdan, who had a calf amputated before falling victim to the job scam and relies on crutches, revealed that workers were only allowed to use mobile phones for 30 minutes once a month, with conversations strictly monitored by supervisors.

Meanwhile, one of the youngest Malaysians rescued, 19-year-old Ong from Penang, said she was deceived into becoming a scammer by the sweet talk of a man who claimed to be Taiwanese.

She met him on social media, where he lured her with the promise of a well-paying job in Thailand. However, she was later taken to Myanmar despite not having any travel documents.

"I arrived in Myanmar in October 2023. Like many others, we were forced to work according to their demands but were only provided with a place to sleep and food to eat.

"We would be punished with caning, forced to do push-ups, or confined in a dark room for failing to meet the targets set by the scam company," she said.

Teo, Shahidan and Ong were among the 15 Malaysians out of a total of 261 foreign victims rescued by Myanmar authorities from job scam syndicates in Myawaddy, Myanmar, and were transferred to Thailand for deportation last Wednesday.

On Sunday, the Malaysian Embassy in Thailand conducted a consular visit on 15 Malaysians, aged 19 to 44 years old, including three women who were among 261 individuals rescued from job scam syndicates in Myanmar and deported to Thailand last Wednesday.

Currently, the Embassy is working closely with Thai authorities to facilitate the victims' travel documentation process to ensure that they will be able to be repatriated home.

-- BERNAMA