online scam
Workers remove barbed wire from a Sihanoukville compound in September 2022. (Mech Dara/VOD)

‘Maintain Reputation’ Tops Cambodia’s Priorities on Slavery

Cambodia pledged “drastic measures” against scam compounds in response to U.N. queries about 100,000 alleged human trafficking victims in Sihanoukville, but also denied finding any debt bondage and placed the country’s “reputation, dignity and benefits” at the top of its principles for combating the crime.

The burnt down Grand Diamond Casino in Poipet city on December 31, 2022. (Michael Dickison/VOD)

Casino Cleaner Recalls Three Hours in Poipet Inferno

Workers stuck inside the Grand Diamond City Casino told VOD their harrowing accounts of escaping the burning buildings, with the incident also raising serious questions about fire safety measures in the casino.

A casino in Poipet in 2012 (Wikimedia Commons)

Chinese Corpse Found in Banteay Meanchey Stream

The body of a Chinese man was found in a local stream after the man’s girlfriend posted online that he went missing from Poipet city, offering a $100,000 reward to find him.

The "Welcome to Batam" sign on a hillside in Batam city, Indonesia on July 16, 2022. (Danielle Keeton-Olsen/VOD)

Learning to Scam Under the Threat of Tasers

Indonesian nationals rescued from a Phnom Penh scam compound say they were targeting Facebook users every day to cheat them out of thousands of dollars. Most are relieved to have gotten away from the criminal work and threat of violence that hovered over them.

An immigration detention center in Sihanoukville on July 5, 2022.

Woman Pleads in Khmer for Scam Rescue

Thousands of viewers have circulated a video online of a woman pleading in Khmer for rescue from forced labor at a Sihanoukville scam center.