Bukit Aman criminal investigation department deputy director Hussein Omar Khan said the four were among 54 Malaysians who had fallen victim to such job scam syndicates and who had been rescued so far.

“Five more Malaysians are still in Cambodia and are being held by the authorities there. They have to go through the legal documentation process before being allowed to return,” he told reporters after the arrival of the four Malaysians, aged between 29 and 41, at KLIA here today.

Hussein said the syndicate lured victims by offering jobs that promised a lucrative salary at call centres in Cambodia. These job offers were via social networking sites such as Facebook and WeChat.

“When the Malaysians arrive in Cambodia, the situation is not like what they have been promised. The victims soon realise they have been deceived but are not allowed to return to Malaysia.

“There are also victims who claimed to have received threats and have been physically abused.”

Hussein did not rule out the possibility of Malaysians colluding with such syndicates in Cambodia.

He said so far, police had received 156 reports involving 189 Malaysians who had been stranded abroad after being duped by job scam syndicates.

“Based on our records, 135 of them are still stranded abroad. We are tracking their whereabouts with the cooperation of the authorities in those countries,” he said.

Hussein said most of the victims found themselves stranded in Cambodia, which accounted for 40% of the total number of cases, followed by Myanmar and Laos.

He said police had succeeded in bringing home these four Malaysians today through their cooperation with the Cambodian authorities, Wisma Putra, Interpol and Asean police.

It was reported on April 11 that 12 Malaysians held captive in Cambodia had been safely repatriated. Four others returned home safely on April 19.