Home Ministry outlines five reasons for forced labour in Cambodia
The Home Ministry has identified five key reasons why Malaysians continue to fall victim to forced labour schemes in Cambodia, despite years of warnings.
- Enticing Pay for Easy Work: Many are drawn to job offers promising high salaries, such as US$1,000 to US$3,000 (RM4,000 to RM12,000), for seemingly easy roles like customer service or call centre work. Financial pressures make these offers hard to resist.
- Low Awareness of Changing Tactics: Despite reports on such scams, many people believe the networks have been stopped or fail to recognize their evolving tactics, such as using new company names and recruiting through social media.
- Local Involvement: Many victims are deceived by fellow Malaysians acting as recruitment agents, making the offers seem more trustworthy.
- Failure to Perform Due Diligence: Victims often neglect to verify the legitimacy of job offers, relying on fake documents and not checking with official agencies.
- Economic Pressures and Desperation: Young people, fresh graduates, and retrenched workers, facing unemployment, are particularly vulnerable to these scams, as syndicates offer to handle all travel arrangements.
The Home Ministry also confirmed that the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 can be used to prosecute syndicates involved, even if the trafficking occurs abroad, as long as Malaysia is linked to the exploitation.
