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Malaysian cook sold to Myanmar scam gang tells of beatings, 18-hour days — and his escape via a pigsty
- The 33-year-old thought he was being hired to work in Thailand when he answered the job advert on social media calling for chefs and waiters
- Instead, he was trafficked to Myanmar via Laos, his passport and phone were confiscated and he was forced to work as a scammer
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When he saw a job advertisement to work as a chef in Thailand for a salary ranging from 8,000 to 10,000 ringgit (US$1,700-US$2,135), a Malaysian cook jumped at the opportunity.
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But in a tale that has now become all too familiar, the 33-year-old ended up being trafficked and sold to a scam syndicate in Myanmar.
The man, who once worked as a cook in Johor, had spotted the advertisement on social media, Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper China Press reported.
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China's telecoms fraud crackdown with Myanmar may help workers trapped in scam rooms
“There were vacancies for chefs and waiters,” the man, whose surname is Zeng, was quoted as saying.
“I was interviewed over the phone by a Malaysian Chinese. Later in April, I flew to Bangkok.”
After he landed in Thailand, Zeng said a “recruiter” told him that he would be working in Chiang Rai, about 800km north of Bangkok.
He and three other new recruits were then driven up to the Thai-Laos border, where they were met by armed men who ushered them across to Laos.
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