Amid targeted raids and arrests against scam and human trafficking operations in Cambodia, accounts from victims and a rescue group indicate that at least some syndicates are going to great lengths to relocate workers to a new country to evade capture.
Under the cover of heavy rain last night, 10 rescued scam workers fled an immigration center in Phnom Penh, as a resident of another of the capital’s facilities spoke of bug bites and paying “tips” to police and said: “One nightmare ended, another began.”
Tens of thousands of people from across Asia have been coerced into defrauding people in America and around the world out of millions of dollars. Those who resist face beatings, food deprivation or worse.
Amid reports of widespread human trafficking and enslavement in Sihanoukville, a Chinese businessman working to rescue victims was questioned by the city’s prosecutors on Tuesday.
UPDATED 5:47 p.m. — A Chinese businessman central to the ongoing rescues of trafficked and enslaved scam workers in Sihanoukville and across the country is under police investigation, his team said.
A web of powerful interests surrounds sites of trafficking and forced labor in Sihanoukville: Its notorious “Chinatown” area is dotted with businesses linked to prominent tycoons and high-ranking officials; another heavily guarded compound is owned by a ruling-party senator.
A Chinese national, who was trafficked to Cambodia, alleges that his blood was harvested seven times since last August, after he refused to partake in scam operations, leaving him frail and putting his health at serious risk.
A remote, city-like compound owned by U.S.-blacklisted tycoon Try Pheap is housing online scam operations of thousands of workers rife with forced labor, detention and unexplained deaths, trafficking victims and rescuers allege.
Chinese nationals, as young as 15 years old, are being trafficked and forced to work in online gambling and scam companies in Sihanoukville, according to pleas for help sent to a group of Chinese volunteers that rescues victims of human trafficking in Cambodia.
Due to Covid-19 concerns, most schools in Cambodia were closed in March, risking long-term setbacks to students’ education. But some entrepreneurial youth took action by organizing informal classes and community libraries.
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