Did scam call centres lure missing British teen to Malaysia?

A British teenager who went missing in Malaysia in June may have become the victim of a scam call centre operation, an anti-fraud group has warned, as concerns rise over the country becoming a new hub for the criminal industry.

David Balisong, 17, was reported missing after he secretly took a flight from the UK to Malaysia on June 6, carrying nothing but a backpack. Malaysian police said he was last seen by eyewitnesses at the KL Sentral transport hub in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur a day later.

His last known communication was on June 9, when his family said they received an email from an unknown address telling them he was “in a safe place” and to “not try to find me”.

There has been little progress in locating Balisong, but anti-fraud activists say the pattern fits into the modus operandi of scam call centre operations that they have dealt with in the past.

“We believe he is likely still in Malaysia where he has possibly become a victim of a scam operation,” said Hishamuddin Hashim, secretary general of the Malaysian International Humanitarian Organisation, at a press conference on Wednesday. The organisation has helped rescue dozens of victims caught in scam operations in Cambodia and Myanmar.