It uses electronic fraud in its operations
Cambodia human trafficking gangs lure people with high computer skills
Pressure is mounting on Cambodia over human trafficking.
archival
Gangs lure foreigners to come to Cambodia, through online scams, in order to steal their money, or lure people with high computer experience, to use them to lure and rob other people.
Some of them, if they do not obey orders, are subjected to torture, sometimes leading to death.
Survivors and human rights experts are calling on law enforcement authorities to take action.
Recent reports have revealed that foreigners working with criminal gangs in Cambodian casinos, and other businesses, are involved in human trafficking cases in the Southeast Asian country, with many victims lured through online scams.
Last week, Cambodian police arrested 15 Thai nationals wanted for electronic fraud and illegally operating from a compound in Sihanoukville, at the request of the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh.
The arrests came as Cambodia and police forces from various countries in the region intensified their efforts to rescue its citizens and stamp out human smuggling gangs.
The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, Vitit Muntarborn, who completed an 11-day mission to the country in late August, says victims of human trafficking are suffering "a living hell", with many being tortured or even killed.
He adds that «countries are now feeling this phenomenon.
Cambodia needs to activate countermeasures more forcefully, while welcoming international cooperation and support.”
Cambodia is a hotspot
Over the years, Cambodia has become a major destination for human trafficking in Southeast Asia, with
There are several scams on the Internet, and they are originally behind many of these cases.
The human traffickers, many of them linked to organized criminal gangs, target foreign nationals through various social media applications and offer them well-paid work and accommodation.
"At first, the scammers told me that I can come to Cambodia for a good job, because I work as an engineer, and I can speak English," says one of the victims, whose name is Wei, who asked that his last name not be used for security reasons.
He adds that he was lured to a human trafficking complex in Cambodia, via an internet scam, and upon his arrival in Cambodia, the scammers took his passport and visa.
"They asked me to join them, or I'd have to pay $30,000," said Wei, who was held in the compound for five months before he managed to escape two weeks ago.
Sihanoukville is a center for human trafficking
Several criminal complexes and gangs are linked to the southern coastal city of Sihanoukville, which has become a Special Economic Zone.
Thanks to the huge Chinese investment between 2014 and 2019, the place has turned into a casino city.
After Chinese and Cambodian officials participated in a joint law enforcement mission to crack down on transnational crime in 2019, Sihanoukville's gambling industry went underground.
Amidst the COVID-19 lockdown, some gamblers have discovered that online scams are a profitable business for them.
In many cases, these scam companies are backed by senior Cambodian officials, says Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch.
“It is really appalling, how these criminal gangs can lock up people in so many casinos and entertainment complexes without facing any kind of prosecution by the Cambodian police.”
pig slaughter
According to founder and director of London-based humanitarian research consultancy Mina Chiang, the fraud activities are part of a double crime scheme.
"They deceive the victims, but there are also the victims of slavery, who are used to deceive the victims in order to steal their money," she says.
By talking to and assisting trafficking victims in Cambodia, her social foundation identified recurring patterns.
"What we see is that criminals are forcing victims to engage in fraudulent activities, including the common method of so-called (pig slaughter)."
The method of "slaughtering pigs" is that fraudsters offer their victims romantic promises of obtaining large fortunes, before taking all their money.
Scams usually start on social media or dating sites, where the fraudster finds the victim, convinces her to hand over some money, before disappearing with all the money.
In most cases, the scammers are the victims themselves, previously lured into the country through high-paying fake jobs.
“We have also seen people being tempted by their friends, which is very dangerous, because you can trust that person easily," Chiang says.
In this case, the victims of slavery are subject to persecution.”
Young people and educated main goal
"Those who are tortured and who travel to Sihanoukville are not low-skilled workers, but rather young, educated, multilingual, or high-end professions," said Kayleigh Lee, director of the Garden of Hope Foundation.
Her Taiwanese NGO, which organizes programs to help victims of human trafficking, found that most of the Taiwanese victims lured to Cambodia were between 24 and 29 years old, and 629 cases of trapped Taiwanese citizens had been reported by the end of August.
According to me, the criminal groups behind these trafficking schemes need smart and educated people, with high computer skills, to carry out the fraud to lure other people.
Since there are no such people in Cambodia, criminals roam the region, luring skilled and educated people from all over the world, including from Europe and the Americas.
“During the five months I was at the scam company, I saw Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesians, Malaysians, even Americans, who were scammed as well,” Wei says, and tries to contact the police.
"But when the scammers found out about it, they got very angry, and imprisoned me in a room with no food or water for 30 hours, during which time I was beaten and physically tortured with an electric pistol," he added.
Reports indicate that many other victims suffer similar physical abuse by their captors, some of whom even died as a result.
money is the reason
The main problem, says Robertson, is the constant flow of money within the smuggling business.
“There is a lot of money being made through these scams, and finances are above anything else in Cambodia, so unless there is a real political will on the part of the government to end this stalemate, very little will be done.”
He called on international donors, UN agencies, and civil society groups to work together to end these abuses sweeping the country.
“If the flow of money to this system is stopped, gangs will find no benefit in enslaving victims, and they will abandon the fraud industry any longer,” Chiang says.
Her team works closely with rescued victims to record their stories, and to advocate for new policies and laws to tackle these crimes, by stopping the flow of money to criminals.
Wei is one of the few to escape, as he jumped out of a van in Thailand two weeks ago that was going to take him to Myanmar.
Other than him, many other victims are still trapped in Cambodia, desperately waiting for help and rescue.
Black list
Cases of human trafficking in Cambodia nearly doubled in 2021. Archive
Some victims who were able to obtain phone cards, managed to contact the police for help, and returned to their countries of origin, but not everyone was so lucky. Many victims said that some Cambodian police officers colluded with members of human trafficking gangs, telling the gangs about These people, who are likely to be punished for calling the police, or the police will sell them to human trafficking gangs in other locations.
Washington blacklisted the countries where these gangs operate earlier this year in its report on human trafficking, citing corruption and insufficient efforts to rein in smugglers.
According to Radio Free Asia, cases of human trafficking in Cambodia nearly doubled in 2021, a trend that began in 2020 due to the pandemic.
In recent years, the country has become a backyard for Chinese fugitives wanted for illegal online gambling and human trafficking crimes, as the value of land and tax exemptions for Chinese investors in Cambodia rose under the Belt and Road initiative.
About "Voice of America"
scam in the name of love
Pressure is mounting on Cambodia over human trafficking. archival
Huang, a Chinese woman who chose to hide her last name, fell in love with a man she met online and didn't suspect anything when he encouraged her to invest $150,000 in a project.
By the moment I realized it was all a hoax, it was too late.
But her story does not end here. After the accident, Huang decided to join an international anti-fraud organization, to help other victims of similar "romantic" scams.
This organization, called "Global Anti-Scar", has helped more than 80 victims so far.
Huang, along with other volunteers in the group, discovered that many of these cyber scammers are victims of a large-scale human trafficking ring located in Cambodia and Myanmar.
Recently, local media in the Greater China region revealed a series of job frauds that culminated in human trafficking.
Ordinary victims react quickly when they read or hear a job advertisement in Cambodia, Myanmar or Thailand, with round-trip airfare and an attractive salary.
Once they travel there, "company employees" confiscate their travel documents, drive them to a compound, and force them to work as online fraudsters.
In Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia, cases of missing persons linked to human trafficking gangs made headlines.
Taiwanese police have confirmed more than 300 such cases so far, while Hong Kong police have arrested five local residents for conspiracy to fraud in connection with these gangs, and in late August, 14 of the 36 known cases were confirmed to have returned. to safety.
About "Fair Planet"
Over the years, Cambodia has become a major destination for human trafficking in Southeast Asia, with online fraud taking place, and is originally behind many of these cases.
The human traffickers, many of them linked to organized criminal gangs, target foreign nationals, through various social media applications, and offer them well-paid work and accommodation.
In most cases, the scammers themselves are victims, previously lured into the country through high-paying fake jobs.
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