By Nancy Nais
KUCHING, March 6: Job seekers are advised not to fall prey to so-called ‘job agents’ via social media or phone messages, WhatsApp or WeChat applications.
Calling on job seekers to be extra vigilant and wary of lucrative job offers, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) National Women vice-chief Voon Shiak Ni said social media has become a platform for scammers to look for easy prey.
Speaking at a press conference today, Voon said one of the ways to avoid being scammed is to use common sense and basic knowledge.
“If it sounds too good (to be true), then it should be avoided. Seekers can check on the background of these agencies via Jabatan Tenaga Kerja, police or embassies.”
Voon, who is also a lawyer and special officer with the federal Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) shared details about a case whereby a local woman came to her office six months ago to speak about her experience of wanting to earn lucrative salary abroad.
“The woman came to know of a job in Korea which could fetch her RM8,000 to RM10,000 per month. She was introduced by an agent via Facebook. As she was desperate for a job, she boldly took the offer and paid the local agent a fee of RM4,000 as commission. Upon arriving into Korea, she was asked by the foreign agent to pay another RM4,000 before she can get a job,” Voon said.
After paying RM8,000 the victim was told that the vacancy offered was no longer available but she can work in a local factory for RM2,000.
Her factory job lasted only two months as after deducting her rent fee and other basic necessities, she was left with nothing, prompting her to return to Malaysia.
Voon added that she had a brief meeting with Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah earlier today to share and discuss on issues pertaining to job, love and other Internet scams.
“According to Mustafa’s statistics, as of March this year, police have opened 13 files while 38 files were recorded last year. Sarawak is also the top five states in Malaysia with the largest number of victims of scams involving hundreds of thousands ringgit lost,” Voon lamented.
This year, the first major job scam case involved 47 Malaysians out of which 44 are Sarawakians, who were detained in Cambodia while the second case involved eight Sarawakians who were allegedly trafficked to Liberia. — DayakDaily
