KUCHING: Promised a lucrative job in Maldives, a man in his 50s travelled all the way to the island country only to find out he had been scammed.
Bandar Kuching Member of Parliament (MP) Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen said the man was offered a high-paying construction job by an "agent".
“He flew there end of last year, however, the job didn’t turn out to be what he expected. He tried to seek help from the Malaysian embassy, but, the closest is in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
"He couldn’t travel there as his passport was taken away. Hence, his family has come forward and informed my office on the issue,” he said.
“We have brought up the case to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they have contacted their consular in Colombo to render all the required assistance to the family.
"They managed to contact him and will provide him with the necessary documentations and assistance so he can travel back home safely soon,” he added.
Yii urged those looking for jobs or offered employment overseas to take precautions and fully ascertain the legitimacy of such offers before leaving in order to not fall victim to job scams all over the world.
Last year, his office dealt with several similar cases of Sarawakians and others falling victims to such job scams in countries such as Liberia, Indonesia, Oman, Papua and even South Korea.
“It is important for job seekers to take due diligence and do the necessary checks before traveling overseas. While it is not wrong to go overseas in search for better paying jobs, proper checking and due diligence must be done before they go,” he said in a statement here.
He advised the public to check with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Wisma Putra) on the validity of the companies in that particular country and whether the salary offered is reasonable in those countries.
To avoid being stranded in a foreign country, job seekers can obtain a work visa in Malaysia first before travelling overseas, he said.
Apart from that, it is important to apply for overseas work insurance or travel insurance as there are many work related accidents overseas that result in injuries leading to disabilities or even death, however they didn't have enough money to cover the medical costs or to fly the body back, Yii added.
It is also necessary to alert the Foreign Ministry if one is going to travel and work in another country in case anything happens.
Meanwhile, Yii remarked that these job scams are not isolated cases.
“The main issue here is not just the lack of jobs in the state, but rather quality jobs that is available with reasonable and equitable salary here in Sarawak. To address that, it may require long term and concentrated efforts from both governments (state and federal) to address this matter,” he said.