A 30-year-old Malaysian man had a short stint at a scam syndicate in Cambodia after he was booted out for failing to produce any results.
He was later nabbed in Singapore and sentenced to jail for scam offences.
Introduced to job by friend
In a report by CNA, Yip Chee Min became friends with a man named “Jason” at a KL bar in October 2024, where “Jason” told him of a job opportunity at a scam call centre in Cambodia.
He told Yip that he didn’t dare to take the job alone, leading Yip to agree to join along.
After both of them got added to a Telegram group chat, they were told by the scam syndicate leader that they would be paid about US$10,000 (approx. RM40,000) a month, with their travel expenses being fully covered by the syndicate.
Both “Jason” and Yip travelled to Cambodia and visited the scam compound, where Yip saw a total of 32 scam call operators working in a soundproof room.
He then decided to join the syndication upon returning to Malaysia.
0 success rate
On Nov 21, Yip flew to Cambodia and discovered that his actual pay was only US$1,800 (approx. RM7,300), along with a 1% commission on any proceeds from scam victims, which will all be paid in cryptocurrency.
After being briefed on the syndicate’s operations and main target, which were Singaporeans, Yip was tasked to be a scam call operator while posing as a bank officer.
He was also given an iPhone 6, a script, and a list of 30 Singaporean victims.
Despite having memorised the script, Yip failed to deliver the lines smoothly and was unable to scam a single victim throughout the three days he spent at the scam operation centre.
Frustrated by his poor performance, the syndicate fired Yip and sent him back to Malaysia. But before that, the syndicate leader took Yip’s personal mobile phone and deleted all messages relating to working for the syndicate.
Arrested
In Feb 2025, Yip became a delivery driver in Singapore and earned $SGD2,300 (approx. RM7,200) monthly before he was arrested on Sept 9.
In court, Yip’s lawyer argued that Yip had cooperated with the authorities and pleaded for a a jail sentence of 13.8 months, adding:
Mr Yip’s case is unique, because, as even the prosecution concedes, he did not make a single successful scam call as part of the scam syndicate.
“He was a member of the syndicate for an extraordinarily short period of time and was not paid a single cent.”
However, the judge disagreed, saying that those facts do not reduce Yip’s culpability as he had willingly joined the scam syndicate to cheat Singaporeans.
“His decision to join was deliberate and financially motivated. As the prosecution correctly submits, the accused was essentially fired because he could not confidently perform scam calls despite his best efforts, and had not left out of remorse,” he added.
Yip was eventually sentenced to 16 months and two weeks in jail after pleading guilty to one charge under Singapore’s Organised Crime Act, while another cheating charge was taken into consideration during sentencing.
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