How One Day Changed Everything: My Time in a Scam Company

I thought it was just another job. A friend of mine suggested I try something in logistics, you know, arranging things for a company. The pay was basic, nothing fancy. But I was greedy. I didn’t want to settle for that, so I went straight into sales. I thought, at least in sales, I could make more money, get ahead faster. I didn’t really think it through.

When I got there, something felt off right away. The people weren’t friendly, and everything was so secretive. They handed me this massive contract—30 pages long. I couldn’t use my phone, couldn’t chat with anyone, couldn’t even look away from the screen. If you broke any of the rules, they’d take money out of your pay. It felt like a prison, but I told myself it was just how things worked. I didn’t want to quit without giving it a shot.

Then I saw what we were really doing. We were scamming people. We’d create fake profiles online—dozens, even hundreds of them. It was all so systematic. We’d message guys, pretend to be someone else, and get them to trust us. Over time, they’d get convinced to invest their money in fake crypto or other schemes, thinking they were going to make a lot of profit. Once they were hooked, we’d disappear, taking everything they’d put in.

I was there for only one day. I couldn’t do it. The more I learned about how the system worked, the sicker I felt. They trained us to build fake relationships with people, to play with their emotions just to steal from them. It was disgusting. These were people already struggling with bills and debt, looking for hope, and we were robbing them blind.

I didn’t even get paid for that day, but honestly, I didn’t care. I felt so guilty. I couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about the people on the other side of those screens. They trusted us, and we were taking everything from them. I quit the next morning. They didn’t even argue, just told me to leave.

I walked out with nothing—no phone, no passport. I felt like I’d barely escaped. But I knew I’d crossed a line. I didn’t feel right about it. I believe in karma, and I knew that what I did, even just for a day, would come back to me.

That’s why I’m at a different job now. At least here, we’re building real connections. No one’s being tricked or manipulated. People make their own choices. There’s no scam. It’s not perfect, but at least I can sleep at night knowing I’m not hurting anyone.

Karma is real, and it’s always there. You can’t run from the choices you make. You live with them, and at some point, you’ll pay the price. But I’m trying to do better now. I’ve learned that it’s never too late to turn things around.”

Humans of Kuala Lumpur

Photostory by Mushamir Mustafa

Transcribed by Preeti Patel

Aspiring Malaysian filmmakers shine at Sunstrong Entertainment’s Scam Prevention Short Film Contest Awards Ceremony in Beijing 

(BEIJING – 20 June 2023) Recognising the greater need to increase awareness of scam prevention, Malaysia’s SunStrong Entertainment organised the Scam Prevention Short  Film Contest which concluded with an awards ceremony in Beijing, China recently, where a total of US$128,000 (RM590,656) was awarded to winning entries, including a number of Malaysian-made works. 

The international contest co-organised by China’s Horizon Corporate Volunteer  Consultancy (HCVC) kicked off in November last year and received a total of 59 entries and 29 entries for the Open Category and Student Category, respectively. Ten entries were shortlisted for each category. 

Themed “Contribute Your Talent To Prevent Scam”, the contest also marks a friendly engagement between the people of Malaysia and China in the arts for a common cause,  further demonstrated by performances of Malay traditional dances and Chinese fan dance at the ceremony. 

SunStrong Entertainment founder Jment Lim, who is also one of the judges, says, “These  works not only show the creativity and talent of the contestants but also the significance  of this contest as we get to see that the society at large is concerned about the prevalence  of scams, as well as everyone’s enthusiasm and devotion for the public interest.” 

He remarked that the contest’s effort to fight scams does not end with it as the winning entries will be made available on major social media platforms and the company’s website,  hoping that these works will continue to play a role in preventing scams. 

“We may not completely stop scams from happening, but we can make an effort to prevent as many tragedies as possible,” he says. 

HCVC founder and chief executive officer Wang Zhongping commended SunStrong  Entertainment for putting together this innovative initiative that benefits society at large. 

He says, “I would like to thank Jment Lim for his strong support and everyone else who has dedicated themselves throughout this contest to allow the process to run smoothly.  If it were up to me, all shortlisted works deserve to receive an award. 

Although there have been stumbling blocks at the onset leading up to the award ceremony,  we get to see through to the end with perseverance. We will continue to utilise the medium  of short films as a tool to raise public awareness.” 

For the Student Category, the first prize of US$5,000 (RM23,073) went to A Forever  Promise (China) which centres around a young graduate who ended up as a job scam  victim, while the second prize, Got Trapped (Malaysia) and third prize, Sink (Malaysia) were awarded US$3,000 (RM13,844) and US$1,500 (RM6,922), respectively.

The seven winning entries of the US$500 (RM2,307.25) Excellence Award are Malaysia’s The Distant Job, Got Trapped, The Untouchable Sight, Catherine’s Love Story and Anti Fraud Operation; China’s The Naked Price and If. 

As for the Open Category, Help (China) which tells the story of a phone scam victim,  bagged the first prize of US$50,000 (RM230,725). 

Coming in second is Bad Days (Malaysia) which won US$20,000 (RM92,290) while Scripted (Malaysia) came in third to win US$10,000 (RM46,145). Thanking the judges for  the recognition, the Malaysian winners say that this inspires them to put out greater works  in the future. 

It was a proud moment when Malaysian entries won every Excellence Award for this category. All seven – Putih Hati, Love Chess, I’m Here For You, Susan, Money  Tree, Bungkam and Desire were awarded US$5,000 (RM23,073) each. 

Open Category winners get to submit their film proposals to SunStrong Entertainment for an opportunity to receive a grant of up to US$1 million (RM4.61 million) to fulfil their dream of making a feature film. 

Golden Horse Award-winning Malaysian filmmaker Chong Keat Aun who sits on the judging panel noted that most entries are based on human trafficking stories, which shows the extent of this worrying matter. He shares that there are bound to be challenged when telling a story within a ten-minute time frame. To his surprise, all these entries took into account the mobile viewing experience for viewers. 

Another judge, Oscar-winning Chinese-American documentary filmmaker Ruby Yang,  sang praises of the entries during the selection process and was amazed by many students’ entries which use news broadcasting as a mode of storytelling and even cast their friends due to limited resources. 

Also on the panel are Shanxi Film Academy director Jia Yue, Leopard Change Academy director Zhang Dadou and Nanhai Academy of the Arts and Technology honorary dean  Zhou Shixing. 

The short films are available for viewing at https://sseshortfilmcontest.com/Gallery  

A Day in Prison

Last Sunday, Humans of KL was invited to visit the Bentong prison as they are partnering with Resorts World Genting for a program called ‘Beauty Behind the Wall’ which aims to equip female inmates with culinary skills. Ever since then, I just can’t stop sharing my prison experience with my friends because it was that eye opening.

Besides the female inmates’ culinary workshop, we had a tour around the prison and we visited the male inmates’ textile workshop. We were given a brief on the rules and we were told that we can’t talk to the inmates.

People say that ‘the eyes tell a story more than a tongue’ and it’s true. There were some scary eyes, they will stare at you and it sent chill down my spine; there were regretful eyes, which tells us how ashamed they are; there were hopeless eyes, which tells us how much that they want to be heard.

And there were their hands, they all had a pair of scarred hands. Those hands sent themselves to prison, and those hands are the same hands that are trying to rewrite their own future.

‘Why’, ‘What’, and ‘How’ filled my mind.

‘Why are you here?’

‘What have you done?’

‘How can I help you?’

From the conversation I had with the prison officers, I learned about the causes and consequences of being in a prison, and their personal views of the imprisonment and the rehabilitation system.

When we were leaving the prison, some of them leaned forward to the tiny little window like they were sending us off. At that moment, it felt like they were asking for a second visit as they have lost connection with the outside world for so long.

This is one of the reasons that I joined HOKL, it’s that I get to practice what I preach, and it widens my perspective in life over and over again. It fills me with great pride that I can make an impact. Even if I manage to make just one small contribution, then all this effort would have been worthwhile.

Written by Samantha Siow

Originally from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/day-prison-siow-san-san-samantha

Teddy Mobile Clinic Observations

Overview of their Routine

Teddy Mobile Clinic’s team usual meeting point would often be at Jalan Hang Lekiu, in front of Segi College, KL.

By 9:30 p.m. they will be setting up their shop – consisting of makeshift tables and chairs, all methodically placed.

This also includes makeshift tables for the Clinic’s new clients who register under the Kechara Soup Kitchen Society – a charitable non-profit organization inspired by H.E. Tsem Rinpoche to help marginalised communities.

There are also makeshift tables for returning patients all arranged on the sidewalk of the street.

After a patient registers, they move on to another table where their blood pressure and sugar level are checked, and then they go to designated tables for their doctor’s consultation, all free of charge.

After seeing the doctors, they move on to the pharmacist’s table to collect their medicines.

Bentong Prison Observation and Thoughts

“On the day that the prisoners will be released, the Director/Warden will be there, and a list of his bio, weight before and after prison, crimes and time served will be called out. We then give a test to see if they have changed and improved themselves. Each inmate will go to a religious class and be assigned their guru. If you’re Muslim you go to the Islamic classes and if you’re Buddhist or Hindu you go to those religious classes. We tell them ‘when you walked in here, you were empty, you did not know many good things. You now leave with goodness in you‘.

The majority of prisoners here are Malays, about 60% of them, with 40% Chinese and Indians. There are 3000 inmates in this prison, and 200 of them are women. The women are imprisoned mostly because of drugs, and the men’s crimes vary from drugs to rape and assault. However, most of the prisoners are there because of drug-related crimes.

For inmates, their uniforms vary in color. We measure them by months. If you’re here for more than 12 months, you will be wearing dark blue uniforms. Those who had attempted to escape out of prison will be wearing those black and white striped uniforms.

They spend their time doing work – we pay them and they gain valuable skills that they can use after they have served their sentence.

Death row prisoners (those who have been served death sentences and are awaiting their time) are not allowed to go out and work. They are secured in the maximum-security cells, with only 1 hour a day given to go out on a break.

Their food and meals are special too – the chicken that we serve does not contain any bones. This is because they can potentially use this to end their own life.

Going up the rolling hills of Genting, we end up at Bentong prison. They briefed us, we had our bags and had our bodies thoroughly checked for items that are not supposed to be in there. No phones, knives, allowed to be brought in, and no bags either.

I only walked in with my watch, pen (no notepad), Nikon D610 camera with the 70-20mm lens and the Canon G7X Mark II.

The event was organized with Resort Genting and the DYTM Tengku Puan Pahang Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah, where along with famed Chef Vitalise have taught the women on how to create fine Malay cuisine. These foods ranging from sweet to savory, and they had all been compiled in her cooking books.

While a Princess could have better things to do, it was great and heartening to see that she had spent all this time with the female inmates, in that hot sweaty condition teaching them life lessons. The fact that a member of the royalty mixed around with those who had committed crimes and might be possibly dangerous is ennobling.

And to see hardcore uber-masculine men who have shifty, hardened eyes, working on the intricacies of textile and sowing, weaving songket items of clothing seemed odd in some sense – a usually female activity, in a female industry (fashion – although thinking about it all great fashion houses are built by men like Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, and Louis Vuitton.

I hope that these men aren’t just playing nice when armed officers and wardens are there, and when they are out there in the world they will go back to their bad ways. That is in itself sad and heartbreaking to see.

But looking at it from my gut feeling – I didn’t see bad evil human beings. I saw men who were born into poverty, those without education and had nothing else better to do, had to do other things to survive in this world and did not have the same opportunities – education mostly – as us lucky few to climb out of the circle of poverty.

Because it is just sad to see them released to the world, hoping and wanting to start a new better life but because of stigma and lack of resources/education to move up higher in the world, that they would revert back to their previous behaviors.”

 

Written by Mushamir Mustafa