Cambodian authorities have confirmed at least 25 dead at a Poipet casino fire that started late Wednesday night, as family members of those missing make their way to the border town hoping for good news.
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.
Fifty-nine Thais were removed from scam operations in Cambodia in simultaneous raids on two compounds this week — including 40 from the Kandal facility where Vietnamese nationals last month made a dramatic escape swimming across a river, Thai police said Friday.
Fake callers impersonating police and others in positions of authority are cheating Thais out of their life savings. But the victims often receive little sympathy, and are instead ridiculed for falling for the scams, many of which operate out of Cambodia.
More than 100 Chinese nationals held at Cambodian immigration centers have been sent home as authorities work to clear the facilities of crowding amid a spate of crime and forced labor.
Five individuals are being questioned in the Preah Sihanouk court over arms dealing, while 21 Thai nationals were removed from Sihanoukville scam operations that used Tinder and Line to lure people to invest in fraudulent schemes, Cambodian and Thai authorities said.
Both alleged scammers and apparent human-trafficking victims were among dozens of Thai and two Taiwanese nationals taken in by police.
A Thai woman who claimed 10 days ago that her blood was harvested at a Sihanoukville scam operation said Friday she had fabricated her account in order to get a swift rescue.
Thai police officials spoke to VOD about the rising number of Thai nationals lured by scam operations in Cambodia and provided insight into their efforts to rescue victims and the abuses perpetrated by these companies.
Thai police has revealed details of recently arrested Thai nationals working at scam operations in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville, and the limited assistance they were getting from their Cambodian counterparts.
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