Duped into taking a ‘business development’ job, he was ill-treated, forced to scam by a syndicate

I don’t know what they said, but she was upset. “Why did you give our information to outsiders?” she asked me. She said she was afraid to talk to me, and that was the last time I heard from her.

She has blocked me. When I tried using my father’s phone to contact her, she blocked him too. When I reached out to her parents, her father said she wanted a divorce.

Our relationship had lasted for seven years — that’s not a short period of time.

I hope she’ll see this interview and understand what happened to me in Cambodia. I can swear to the gods that I didn’t do any disservice to you. Please give me a chance to explain, even if it’s for just five to 10 minutes. 

In November, I got help from an NGO, the Malaysian International Humanitarian Organisation. At the request of its adviser, former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan, the police assigned an officer in a specialist anti-trafficking unit to take my statement.

Last month, the officer in charge of the case told me investigations were ongoing. He didn’t give me any more details.

I’m now relying on donations from the public to fight my case in court. I’m really worried as I’m up against a large organisation.

I’d thought the people who were scammed into going to Cambodia were dumb, but it turns out that I’m just like them. I never thought this would happen to me, but it did.

(Editorial note: Many of the details of Tan’s story could not be independently verified by CNA Insider. However, his account matches the experiences of many other job scam victims put to work by scam syndicates.)

Text: Lianne Chia, Ray Yeh 

To read more first-person accounts by scam victims and former scammers, explore our microsite: Scammers Exposed.