A 19-year-old man required surgery on his broken jaw and had several teeth knocked out during a vicious assault in Dandenong last Wednesday.

Police have been told the victim, named only as Tyson, was walking along the Princes Highway to a KFC when he turned into Scott Street about 7.30pm, before being set upon by five men who jumped out of a car as he passed a vacant block.

One of the men allegedly told Tyson “this is Dandenong” and “welcome to Dandenong” before punching him in the face and dropping him to the ground.

The group then kicked and stomped on him until one of the men said to stop.

“I said nothing to them. I just… played dead,” he said.

“I thought I’d be stabbed – or worse. I’ll always have to look over my shoulder now.”

Police have released an image of a silver Honda accord, believed to be a 2000 model or older, which the men were thought to have been travelling in shortly before the attack.

Detective Senior Constable Robbie Colcott said the serious assault was “completely out of the blue”.

“As they approached him from across the road, one of the males called out ‘welcome to Dandenong’, it was totally random and vicious, callous and brutal,” he said.

“[The victim was] playing possum – we’re talking about Tyson pretending he was dead. That’s what it took for this assault to stop.”

The group are described as being of Middle Eastern appearance, aged between 17-25 years old with slim to medium builds, dark features and thick accents.

Several of the group were wearing hooded jumpers.