SEPANG: A mother of a job scam victim attempted to stop her son from leaving the country out of fear of him being duped.
The mother who only wished to be known as Moon, 53, from Kampung Parit Raja, Johor said she was at first against the idea of her son Muhamad, 21, working abroad. However, she relented upon learning that he would be accompanied by four friends.
She said her son told her he was going to Singapore for better job opportunities, but was scammed and abused by his employers in Myanmar.
"I tried to stop my son from working in Singapore because I was worried about his safety. I didn't even expect that he would be taken to Myanmar by a syndicate."
Moon, who works as a restaurant cook, said Muhamad previously worked part-time in the village and obtained a job offer in Singapore through a friend on social media last September.
The agent managing the job, however, did not provide any details.
After leaving the country, Muhammad told her that they would not be able to work in Singapore, as there were no vacancies, and they were then transferred to Thailand.
"Before going to Thailand, the five of them were placed in a hotel in Johor Baru for two days for documentation. The flight tickets were fully borne by the agent. They were then taken to Myanmar," she told the media at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) yesterday.
Yesterday, Muhamad, a fellow villager only known as Shidi, 19, and four other Malaysians who were victims of a job syndicate in Myanmar were brought home from Bangkok, Thailand.
The four other victims were aged between 25 and 30. Two of them were from Kuala Lumpur and Miri, and two others were from Kota Kinabalu.
They were accompanied by Teruntum assemblyman Sim Chon Siang from Bangkok, Thailand at 8.45am on flight TG145 and touched down at KLIA at noon.
Moon said that while Muhamad was in Myanmar, he contacted his family to inform them that he was working as a scammer. He, however did not reveal he was starved, beaten with a rubber pipe and soaked in a pool of water if he did not reach the syndicate's target of RM30,000 a day.
"Last October, my son contacted his friend asking for a ransom of RM15,000. If he failed to do so within the specified period, he would be sold to another agency in Laos."
As the friend failed to raise the money, he then told Moon about Muhammad's situation, which she then relayed to her husband.
"We didn't have that much money to pay the syndicate, so we made a report at the Parit Raja police station and met Malaysian International Humanitarian Organisation secretary-general Datuk Hishamuddin Hashim to get help."
Moon said she also hoped that Muhamad's three friends who are still in Myanmar can be rescued and brought home safely.