Tasered, beaten, long hours without pay: Malaysian man’s 11-month ordeal in Myanmar scam centres

JOHOR BAHRU - It was a golden opportunity – a job that offered RM80,000 (S$24,200) for a week’s stint transporting gold from a dealer in Thailand to seve­ral gold shops in Malaysia.

For Gan Jiea Jie, who turned 18 in February 2024, it was something he just could not refuse.

Mr Gan, who comes from a broken family and had debts to pay, responded to the advertisement on social media.

And he left without informing his family. It was his biggest mistake.

For the next 11 months, he was beaten, tasered and forced to work up to 18 hours a day without pay in scam centres in Myanmar, cheating people around the world.

As a victim of a human traffic­king syndicate, he was smuggled from Thailand to Myanmar and “sold” from one boss to another.

Mr Gan escaped the nightmare on Feb 18 with the help of a friend in Johor Bahru and the Malaysian Embassy in Thailand. He is currently waiting to be repatriated to Malaysia.

The traffickers, who held his passport, allegedly put a US$10,000 (S$13,400) bounty on his head following his escape.

Mr Gan says there are many other Malaysians in a similar predicament, all lured with promises of good jobs and lucrative salaries.

In an exclusive interview with Malaysian media outlet The Star after his escape, Mr Gan said he was initially uncertain about the job offer.

However, he was convinced when a fake company representative sent him a picture in March 2024 of a plane ticket in his name from Johor to Penang, and then another to Bangkok.

He was also shown his return ticket to Johor.

“They also sent me a booking for a posh hotel in Thailand. This convinced me and I decided to leave home with just a small bag of clothes and my passport,” said Mr Gan.

“I had never even been to an airport, let alone travel. I was nervous as I did not have any money, but the ‘representative’ gave me a cash advance, which was banked into my account,” he said, adding that all their communication was done via social media.

Mr Gan was told someone would meet him at the Bangkok airport and take him to the hotel.

At the airport, things started going wrong. The journey to the hotel took many hours.

“The driver, who only spoke Thai, kept assuring me that everything was good,” said Mr Gan.

“We passed at least four police checkpoints before we reached the hotel in a remote forested area,” he said, adding that there was no mobile phone signal there.

Tired, he fell asleep. Someone woke him up in the morning and told him to get ready to leave.

“We reached a river, and a raft took us across the narrow river. On the other side, there were men in uniform and machine guns,” Mr Gan said.

He was forced into a four-wheel drive vehicle and taken to a house where there were soldiers.

“I think it was a soldiers’ camp as they came in to rest and have meals,” he said.

Then, the real nightmare began.

A man, believed to be a Taiwanese national, told Mr Gan he would need to work for one year before being allowed to leave.

If he wanted to return home, he would have to pay US$50,000. At that moment, Mr Gan realised he had fallen victim to a scam.

Over the next few days, two other Malaysians – a man and a woman – arrived. Their mobile phones were seized.

The woman, in her 30s, and the man, in his 20s, were victims of the same scam.

“After three days we all deci­ded to work as there was no way to escape, with so many soldiers,” said Mr Gan.

“We were assigned our hostel and work areas in a complex with hundreds of people and many buildings. The complex was like a small town with shops and ameni­ties. It was guarded by men in uniforms carrying machine guns.”

Mr Gan said the scam operations were very organised, with a chief executive officer, general mana­ger, managers, supervisors and staff.

He said the staff were from va­rious countries, but most of them were Chinese nationals.

“We also received our own identification tags, and everyone had a nickname.

“No one was permitted to use their own name,” said Mr Gan, whose nickname was Archie.

“I had a quota to achieve. If not, I would be punished,” he said, adding that each of them was given a month-long training on scam methods.

Each of them received at least eight mobile phones, which they used to search for victims of love or investment scams on social media.

“I worked 18 hours a day. If I did not achieve my targets, I was beaten up. There was even a time I was zapped with a Taser,” he said.

Within a month, the man he had met earlier at the house had escaped while being sent to a hospital after faking an illness.

Whenever a person escaped, a bounty of between US$5,000 and US$10,000 would be posted on social media.

“I was too scared to escape,” said Mr Gan. During his 11 months there, he did not make any money.

The Malaysian woman, who could speak other languages, was given a job as a translator.

Those who could bring in the money would be rewarded with dinners at restaurants and cash bonuses to be used at the complex.

“Those who did not meet targets only ate mixed rice at the canteen.

“I was sold and moved to three different companies with diffe­rent bosses,” he said, adding that he had scammed victims in Japan, South Korea, the US, the UK and Malaysia.

Mr Gan, who had at times wanted to end his life, said his hope of escape came in February when the company decided to move operations to Cambodia.

On Feb 16, Mr Gan, his manager and another man walked across a shallow river back into Thailand as part of the move.

“We then made a two-day land journey to a hotel in Bangkok,” he said.

“We had to avoid the roadblocks as my manager was carrying dozens of mobile phones used in the operations,” he added.

On Feb 18, his manager went out to buy breakfast and Mr Gan saw the chance to escape.

He pretended to go out for food and later called his friend, who told him to get help from the Malaysian Embassy in Thailand.

With only 400 baht (S$16) in his pocket, he was unable to get to the embassy, but it was enough for a ride to the nearest police station.

Mr Gan is now helping the police in their investigations, and is undergoing screening under Thailand’s National Referral Mechanism (NRM), which is part of the country’s fight against human trafficking.

NRM is designed to help identify and support victims of human trafficking and modern slavery.

It includes law enforcement, non-governmental organisations and social service agencies that collaborate to provide a comprehensive response to trafficking.

Asked what he plans to do now, Mr Gan said he just wants to go home and eat some local food.

“I have been forced to do some bad things. I also know that my escape is a miracle and I promise to change and lead a better life after this,” he said.

It has been a year of hell for the young man, and he has a message for youngsters – never take job offers abroad that are too good to be true. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK