KUALA LUMPUR: Some victims of job scams rescued by the police overseas are actually agents or middlemen of criminal syndicates, says Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain.
Shuhaily said the CID's Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (ATIPSOM) division's interviews of those rescued from Cambodia and Myanmar, revealed that some victims were agents recruited by the syndicates.
Their role was to trick more people into working for the syndicates overseas.
"We screened (the victims) at the airport and from there we could see that they (agents) travelled overseas in the same manner before," he said at an engagement session with the public at the Taman Tun Dr Ismail community centre today.
"When we call them (to provide statements) and investigate, it is as if they have been coached on how they should answer the police,"
Mohd Shuhaily said the police have sent a note to the Home Ministry and that it would be up to the ministry to review its procedures for issuing travel documents for Malaysians who are believed to be working with job scam syndicates.
He said it was in the ministry's jurisdiction to impose travel restrictions on such people.
Previously, police revealed that 326 Malaysians who fell victim to overseas job scams were rescued from 2021 until February 23, 2024.
Another 133 people are believed to still be stranded overseas, including in countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar.
More than 70 per cent of the victims were recruited to work as scam call agents, while the rest were tasked with working as call centre attendants, casino staff, as well as cooks, and cleaners.