Free · No download · Escape series, part 4

Overseas Job Scam Escape Game: Passport and Phone Gone — Can You Get Out?

▶ PLAY FREE NOWNo download · Phone or PC · 3–5 minutes per run · 10 languages

“Trapped by a High-Paying Job Abroad” is a free, choice-based scam compound escape game you play right in your browser. You saw a social-media ad: "Short-term overseas marketing job, 6 million won for 2 weeks, flights and housing provided." You followed a friendly recruiter to "Kaloa," a fictional Southeast Asian border town — and the "company" turned out to be a scam operation behind high walls and barbed wire. They took your passport "for visa processing" and your phone "for security."

The city, company and characters are all fictional and unrelated to any real country or event. The correct choices follow real safety material (Korea's MOFA Consular Call Center guidance, the Ministry of Justice overseas job scam guide, and overseas kidnapping/detention response guidelines). This is part 4 of the Escape series in the Survival series.

How a run works

The clock at the top of the screen only stops while you decide (⏱ running / ⏸ paused).

1. First night, locked room: find the work phone in your suitcase lining, set it to silent, and send your location and situation to the Consular Call Center. Look for the landmark outside the window and the note left by the person before you.
2. Morning phone check: where do you hide the work phone? Do you run for the open gate?
3. A day on the work floor: a manager pushing quotas, a recruiter telling you to have your family send money, a delivery truck at the gate.
4. Second night: a room search, the dawn guard change — go now, or wait?
5. Dawn: a rescue operation, or a van taking you to another compound. The clues you left change the ending.

Hold breath · Search · Watch gauge · Clues

• Hold breath: when a flashlight comes close during roll call or a search, press and hold the button (or Space bar). Release when the needle is in the green zone.
• Search and combine: search the window, under the mattress, the locker, the vent and the photo album to find a charging cable, a pen and a passport copy, then write an English rescue note.
• Watch gauge: noise, screen light and suspicious moves build up until a guard comes over.
• Clues: a Consular Center report, your location, a photo of the water tower outside, a passport copy and an English report to local police all bring the rescue sooner.

Specialties

Each run you get one job, and it really changes your options.

• 🩺 Company clinic nurseChecks their own condition even when hurt · knows how to hold a long breath
• 🔧 Facilities technicianKnows building layouts · quickly finds vents and fuse boxes
• 🦺 Safety Team Assistant ManagerWorks in safety training · knows the Consular Call Center number by heart
• 📦 General affairs asst. managerAlways packs a power bank and charging cable when traveling
• ☕ In-house café baristaKnows how to put people at ease · can get through to guards
• 🔦 Security guardHad security training · remembers faces and shift times well
• 💻 IT developerWork phone battery is plentiful · turns on location sharing fast
• 📢 PR team stafferWrites short, precise rescue texts · fast with English sentences too
• 🛋️ A job-hunting cousin who applied tooJob-hunting, so the ad was tempting · not much to lose
• 🚴 A delivery-rider friend who applied tooGreat sense of direction · can tell where the river and market are by sound
• 🧹 The building custodianKnows small gaps and hiding spots well

24 result types

If you get out, you get a survivor type; if not, a failure type. Compare what you got with your friends.

Textbook escapeNo provoking, secret alerts, evidence left, and down on the floor at the rescue.

Reached the Consular CenterOn the first night, under the blanket, sent the exact location and situation.

Evidence collectorPassport copy, job chats, task sheet. The photos sped up the investigation.

The breathless nightHeld your breath every time the flashlight stopped. Never caught once.

Knew how to waitStopped at the wall. Trusted that rescue was coming.

The one who got downIn the chaos of the rescue, dropped to the floor at once.

English reporterSent location and passport copy to the local police hotline in English.

Saved by the teamManager Do and Jiwoo reported it for me from Seoul.

The one who bought timeDidn't talk back, ate, asked for medicine. Holding out was winning.

Author of the noteOne English note passed through a kind stranger's hands and reached the police.

Clue outside the windowOne photo of a red water tower pinpointed this building.

The lucky-break survivorFull of mistakes, but you got out. Will you be this lucky next time?

Over the wallThe other side of the barbed wire was higher than it looked.

Toward the riverBeyond the wall, in the dark, was the river.

At the compound gateThrough the open gate, or back for the passport. There was always a guard at that gate.

The one who fought backTook on many alone.

The phone they foundEvery time the flashlight stopped, your breath, the screen's glow leaked out.

The phone that rangFailed to press one silent button.

The one they movedThe black-windowed van drove off. You left no clues.

Ran at the rescueWhen the police came, you ran instead of getting down.

Only waitedYou told no one your location. No one found you.

Shouted out the windowShouts into an empty lot were heard only by the guards.

Starved and enduredDidn't eat, didn't ask for medicine.

The incredibly unlucky oneNearly everything right. Still, that night was far too long.

How to get out (in-game answers = real safety advice)

• Keep a hidden phone on silent, and briefly send your location and situation to MOFA's Consular Call Center (+82-2-3210-0404, KakaoTalk channel "외교부 영사콜센터" — MOFA Consular Call Center).
• Report to the local police hotline yourself, in English — location, contact, passport copy and a rescue message.
• Don't talk back; follow instructions and buy time. Don't make eye contact or glare.
• Don't escape unless it's certain. Walls and rivers are dangerous.
• Eat the food you're given, and ask for medicine if sick. When a rescue begins, get down at once.

Details are in What to do if you're trapped by an overseas job scam.

Survival series · Escape series

The “Escape series” asks, “What if I were trapped in there?” Seongsu Team 3 — Team Lead Park, new hire Jiwoo, Manager Do Yun-hee and intern Seojun — the same faces now help or get in the way from the other side of a group chat in Seoul.

FAQ

▶ PLAY: TRAPPED BY A HIGH-PAYING JOB ABROAD