Thousands of workers flee Cambodia scam centres, officials say

Thousands of people, including suspected victims of human trafficking, are estimated to have been released or escaped from scam compounds across Cambodia over recent days, after growing international pressure to crackdown on the multibillion-dollar industry.The Indonesian embassy in Phnom Penh said it had received reports from 1,440 of its nationals who had been released from scam centres, while large queues of Chinese nationals were also seen outside the Chinese embassy.Amnesty International said it had geolocated 15 videos and images, and reviewed social media posts that appear to show escape attempts and releases at least 10 scamming compounds across Cambodia.There are no exact figures for the numbers released, but Amnesty estimates it to be in the thousands.It is hard to determine what role the police are playing in the releases, said Amnesty’s regional research director Montse Ferrer, who added that in some videos police are visible, while in other footage they cannot be seen.There is concern about the lack of support for workers who have been released, Ferrer added. Some have been seen “walking around in search of assistance – and we also know that some people have managed to get to safe houses,” she said.Without support there is a risk of workers simply being moved to a new scamming location – a trend in previous releases. “We’ve seen people who are forced to move to other compounds, and it’s possible that if people have escaped but don’t know where to go, don’t know what to do next, [then they] end up in another compound.”The online scam industry has flourished across parts of south-east Asia over recent years, including in Cambodia, where the UN estimates 100,000 work inside compounds. Many workers have been duped into accepting jobs in the compounds, and are then held against their will and forced to carry out online scams, including romance-investment scams and crypto fraud.Jacob Sims, visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Asia Center, described the recent releases as unprecedented in Cambodia. “It is extremely clear that this is all being precipitated by escalating international pressure, which has been mounting for years, but really started exponentially increasing with the historic UK and US October 14 action against Chen Zhi.”Chen Zhi, a Chinese-born Cambodian tycoon, was sanctioned by the UK and the US in October last year, with the US accusing him of operating a “transnational criminal empire through online investment scams targeting Americans and others worldwide”.Chen, who chairs Prince Group, was arrested and extradited to China earlier this month, the strongest step yet to be taken against criminal syndicates inside Cambodia.The Cambodian government did not respond to a request for comment regarding the recent releases. Prime minister Hun Manet has pledged on Facebook to “eliminate … all the problems related to the crime of cyber scams”.Sims said that while the latest releases are promising, the problem will simply re-emerge if international pressure is not maintained. “This industry obviously has gotten to the point where it’s sort of too big to fail. It’s a major regime patrimonial resource,” said Sims, who is also a senior adviser on transnational crime at Inca Digital, an open-source intelligence company.“What happens from here, a lot of that is going to depend on how sustained and durable this pressure remains against the regime,” he added.The Cambodian government has repeatedly been accused of being complicit in the scam industry.The US Trafficking in Persons Report for 2024 warned of Cambodia: “Some senior government officials and advisers owned – either directly or through businesses – properties and facilities known to be utilized by online scam operators used to exploit victims in labor trafficking and financially benefited directly from these crimes.”The involvement of “officials and economic elites resulted in selective and politically motivated enforcement of laws, inhibiting effective law enforcement action against trafficking crimes,” it said.Cambodia has denied suggestions its government is complicit, saying it has “never supported, nor will it ever tolerate, cybercriminal activity” and that it “remains fully committed to integrity, transparency, and adherence to the rule of law and international norms.”According to estimates by United States Institute of Peace, in Cambodia, the return on cyber scamming is estimated to exceed $12.5bn annually, half the country’s formal GDP.