KUANTAN: It has been more than a month since Loke Chooi Tip last saw her 19-year-old son who was supposed to travel for work in Kuala Lumpur last month.
It was believed that her son, Koh Sheng Yur, is instead languishing in Lay Kay Kaw, Myanmar, after falling victim to a job scam syndicate.
The 56-year-old seamstress said she last spoke to her son, the youngest of four siblings, when he called her on April 15 to inform her that he was in Thailand.
He pleaded with the family to make arrangements to bring him home then.
On May 2, Koh shared his location on Instagram with his elder sibling and the family verified it as Lay Kay Kaw in Myanmar. Since then, Koh and his family have been communicating only on social media.
Loke, who is seeking assistance from Teruntum assemblyman Sim Chon Siang to bring her son home, said she was perplexed how Koh had ended up in Myanmar when his international passport is with her at their home in Pekan.
"It has been tough thinking what is happening to him, whether he gets to eat, if he is being treated well and when he can come home... this is the longest he has been away from the family.
"When I last spoke to him, he was crying and I knew he was scared. I have no idea what really happened... how did he manage to cross international borders into Thailand and Myanmar without proper documents?"
Speaking at Sim's service centre here today, Loke said Koh left for Kuala Lumpur on April 6 after informing the family that he had secured a job at a cryptocurrency company.
"He used to call me every day. Suddenly on April 13, I could no longer contact him. So, I lodged a police report. Later on the same day, my husband received a text message from one of my son's friends claiming that he was in Thailand and that he wanted to borrow RM60,000 to come home.
"I told the friend that it was impossible for him to go to Thailand without his passport. He was also carrying very little cash. The friend advised me to lodge a police report and seek assistance from the authorities to trace his whereabouts," she said.
Loke said on April 15, she received a WhatsApp call from Koh saying he no longer wanted to work in Thailand and wanted to return home, but someone else then took the phone.
"The man told me that my son was safe and that he could come home if I pay cash as compensation to his employer. I heard him scolding my son and my son was crying on the phone.
"I informed my son to immediately call his brother to provide information on his whereabouts. That was the last time we spoke.
"I have not been able to hear his voice (since then) as he can only communicate through text messages. I am not even sure if it is him or someone else replying to the messages," she said in tears.
Sim said he believed job scam syndicates had hired Malaysians as their local agents to lure young people on social media with promising job offers abroad.
"We have been reading a lot of news articles about such scams in the newspapers and I hope the government will provide assistance and put an end to this. We must look into ways to bring home the stranded Malaysians.
"I will contact the Malaysian embassy in Yangon (Myanmar) to see how we can bring home Koh and other stranded Malaysians. I hope the Foreign Ministry will look into this issue," he said.