PETALING JAYA – Six young Malaysians were forced to milk money for a Macau scam syndicate targeting Malaysians since they arrived in Bangkok, Thailand, in August.
Their passports and handphones were seized by the syndicate led by a Taiwanese gangster.
Khu, a 19-year-old girl, suffered bruises on her arm, legs and buttocks after she was beaten up with a metal rod.
She even had a knife held up to her neck, causing a small cut and was stabbed in her palm.
The Malaysians conned into working for the syndicate had to use computers every day and Khu and Wei took a risk to seek help via Facebook and Twitter, even when their every movement was monitored round-the-clock.
Wei, from Kuala Lumpur, sent a Facebook message to his father Jack last week to seek help and told him how they were being tortured and forced to cheat people over the phone.
He also provided the address they were at, his MyKad number and that of Khu and also his Find My iPhone log in details – so that the cops could locate his exact location.
Jack flew to Bangkok the next morning and sought the help of the Malaysian Embassy.
The Royal Thai Police raided the premises in Bangkok the next day based on the address provided and managed to rescue all six Malaysians and arrested the Taiwanese thug.
Another Malaysian, believed to in cahoots with the gangster, was arrested at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok the following day upon his arrival from Malaysia.
When met, Jack, who is currently back in Malaysia, said his son left for Bangkok to take up a job in customer service which was offered through an advertisement on Facebook.
“He told me that a Malaysian interviewed him on WeChat and said that the salary was RM5,500 (S$1,770) per month. The job was only for three months and that it was based in Bangkok.
“I cautioned him that it could be a scam, but he told me the employer would provide training and accommodation so I thought maybe it wasn’t that bad after all,” he said.
He said he had told his son to give him a video call every week.
Jack also said the syndicate told the six Malaysians to pay a compensation of RM30,000 each if they wanted to quit.
Malaysian Embassy in Bangkok second secretary (public diplomacy) Leowania Leow said a team of embassy officers would visit the six Malaysians at the Immigration Detention Centre in Bangkok today.
