Following a previous warning of violent incidents involving scam operations in Cambodia, the Chinese Embassy called for further caution against fraud syndicates and said it had successfully rescued some victims from the operations.
The statement comes amid similar recent warnings from Vietnam and a series of raids to remove Thai and Malaysian workers from the scam and human-trafficking compounds.
Recently, a number of Chinese citizens had falsely believed in recruitment ads for high-paid jobs in Cambodia, said the Chinese Embassy statement, issued late Tuesday.
“The telecommunications fraud syndicates lured them to be smuggled to Cambodia, then illegally detained them in Cambodia and extorted a high ransom from their families,” the embassy said.
The victims’ families reported to police, and Chinese and Cambodian authorities coordinated with the embassy to rescue the victims, it said.
“The embassy in Cambodia again solemnly reminds Chinese citizens to visit Cambodia through legal channels. Do not believe in the story of getting rich in a sudden way,” the embassy said.
Anyone finding themselves in trouble should report their case to police or the embassy with clear locations to organize a timely rescue, it said.
The statement did not say whether the scam operations had been shut down alongside the rescues.
Previous rescues, which have been ongoing for months largely in silence, have left the criminal operations intact while only extracting a small number of detained workers at a time.
The Chinese Embassy listed a series of possible contacts:
- Cambodian police hotline: 117
- Cambodian police hotline for foreigners: 031 20 12345, 031 60 12345
- Chinese emergency call center: +86 10 12308, +86 10 5991 3991
- Chinese consular protection: 023 210 206, 078 946 178, 061 983 749 [email protected]
- China-Cambodia law enforcement coordination: [email protected]
- Chinese documents hotline: 011 572 624, 012 901 937, [email protected]
