Malaysian dad pleads help for scam victims after son died

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The parents of a Malaysian man who died after falling prey to a human trafficking scheme appealed Wednesday to the government to rescue other scam victims trapped in Myanmar and Cambodia, saying they hoped there would be no more fatalities.

Malaysia’s government has pledged to rescue Malaysians caught in what is said to be “modern slavery” in the region, including in Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia. The victims are often young people in search of employment or romance, like Goi Zhen Feng. The 23-year-old went to Bangkok in January to meet a woman he had only contacted online who he described as his girlfriend, his father Goi Chee Kong said.

Zhen Feng, who planned to graduate as a teacher this year, failed to return for his mom's birthday in February. He made his first — and last — call to his parents in March to say he'd been beaten up for allegedly faking sick and needed 80,000 ringgit (about $17,500) so he could be hospitalized for an illness, the senior Goi said.

Following a tip-off by another Malaysian victim who had returned to the country, Goi said he believed Zhen Feng was taken to KK Garden in Myanmar's Myawaddy township near the Thai border to work for companies engaged in online scams. Malaysian officials said KK Garden is a casino and entertainment complex in the Myawaddy village of Shwe Kokko that involves Chinese investment and is suspected of being a hub for organized crimes.