There are honest agents out there who make a living processing papers and even helping foreigners get jobs in the low end, like domestic helpers. The only problem seems to be the extreme prices they charge, like up to six months salary. And, if something goes wrong and the job doesnt work out, they will do the work again for free.
To me, an agent scam is the advert I see every two weeks in my mailbox. The paper clearly reads, "Earn RM3000-12,000 per month picking fruit on a farm in Australia! Enjoy the fresh air and sunshine! Earn for your future! Work only six hours a day! All lodging and food included!" So I called, and the moment they heard I was a westerner they immediately said they had no jobs, so sorry. I waited an hour and had a Malay woman call and they had an interview on the phone and asked her to prepay an agent fee of, I dont know, RM300 or something, to get a list of all the jobs and that there were many available RIGHT NOW! We had quite a laugh. 100% scam, OF COURSE. Worse than a scam, I believe if such a woman ever got far enough in this process she would find herself on a cargo ship on her way to a factory in Mongolia, never to be heard from again. I dont understand why law enforcement doesnt send undercover agents into this human trafficking and destroy these organizations.
I forget the name of that mall opposite the Pudu station--Pudu Raya?? Anyway, in there are legit agents for low jobs like cooks and maids. I used to go there for freight agents and saw plenty of foreigners in and out of the job-agent offices. They dont advertise their services but they are there nevertheless. Also, a filipino told me that embassies keep lists of good and bad agents. I would also go to the filipino Baptist Born Again church at Bukit Bintang and ask the women for legit agents.
There is another group of agents who dont mean to be scammers but they are. These are ordinary people who believe they can make $10,000 or $50,000 a month in agent fees for arranging jobs and visas. They start their work with no experience but they believe they have enough contacts and "special friends" in govt to make it work. When they let you down, its because their "special friends" turned out to be not so special after all, were only big mouths, or decided to be greedy for more bribe money. I always thought such people did things directly but no, there is a chain of people involved and its very easy for the chain to break. All the applicant sees is failure and money gone, and then believe it was all a big scam. It didnt start that way but ended that way. How to find the real one, the honest one who would even return your money? Impossible to know, only your experience knows.