Fake passports and 'stand-ins' help sick foreign workers bypass health checks

New Straits Times

10-05-2025

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreigners, believed to be linked to a syndicate, are allegedly helping other foreigners looking to work in Malaysia bypass stringent health checks aimed at protecting local workers and communities from diseases.
Several general practitioners, who spoke to the New Straits Times on condition of anonymity, said they were concerned that unfit workers were being absorbed into the workforce, increasing the risk of the spread of infectious diseases like tuberculosis.
Foreign workers are required to undergo mandatory health checks at clinics before they can begin working in Malaysia — a process overseen by the Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency (Fomema).
In the past, it is understood that these "stand-ins" would help unfit foreign workers by undergoing the health check on their behalf using the applicant's real passport. However, this fraudulent attempt was easily detected, as clinic assistants and doctors could see that the stand-ins looked different from the applicants in their passport photos.
Now, the stand-ins are reportedly using fake passports, where the details match those of the applicant, but the photo is of the stand-in.
The stand-ins must use the real details of the unfit worker, as they are required to show both the passport and a Fomema form at the clinic. While the Fomema form includes the foreign worker's details, it does not contain a photo.
"We get a number of these cases each month," said one doctor who runs a private clinic.
"They will use a passport from an Indochina country, but one look at them and you can tell they are from a South Asian country."
The doctor also noted that sometimes the applicant's age, as stated in the passport, did not "make sense".
"The passport will say they were born in the 1960s, but it's impossible. They look young and fit."
Doctors can spot and decline stand-in health checks based on clear red flags, such as incorrect passport details, mismatched faces, or the applicant's inability to answer basic personal questions like their date of birth.
However, some stand-ins are well-prepared and come equipped with high-quality fake passports.
"These passports look and feel real. They are not like the old types with a fake photo pasted over another, which you could peel off," one doctor said.
"In such cases, clinics do not have the expertise or authority to tell if it's fake and reject them."
Another doctor in Selangor said he had seen "several cases" in the past few months.
"There was one case where the passport number on the first page was different from the number on the other pages.
"There was also one stand-in who could not answer what his date of birth was."
The doctor said these foreigners were turned away and a report was lodged with Fomema.
"But these are only the ones we can detect. For those who come prepared, we cannot report them as there are no grounds to do so."
He added that he reports dubious cases only to Fomema and not to the authorities for fear of reprisal.
"If action is taken against them (stand-ins), they will know which clinic reported them. It is dangerous," he said.
The doctor voiced concern that unfit workers who bypassed health checks could spread infectious diseases to others.