PHNOM PENH: More than 1,400 Indonesians have left cyberscam networks in Cambodia in the last five days, Jakarta said on Wednesday (Jan 21), after Phnom Penh pledged a fresh crackdown on the illicit trade.
Scammers working from hubs across Southeast Asia, some willingly and others trafficked, lure internet users around the world into fake romances and cryptocurrency investments, netting tens of billions of dollars each year.
Some foreign nationals have evacuated suspected scam compounds across Cambodia this month as the government has pledged to “eliminate” problems related to the online fraud industry, which the United Nations says employs around 100,000 people in the country.
Between Jan 16 and 20, 1,440 Indonesians left sites operated by online scam syndicates and went to the Indonesian embassy in the capital Phnom Penh for help, the mission said in a statement.
The “largest wave of arrivals” occurred on Monday when 520 Indonesians turned up, the embassy said.
Indonesian Ambassador Santo Darmosumarto said law enforcement agencies in both nations would be tasked with determining whether the arrivals had been perpetrating fraud willingly or had been forced to do so under the threat of violence.
However, he told AFP, “we haven’t identified any clear indications that, at the moment, any of them (were) … victims of human trafficking,” adding they showed no visible evidence of physical abuse.
Asked whether any could face criminal charges, he said the embassy was working to ensure “at least a sample” of the repatriated Indonesians would undergo a process to “find out how they were involved” in scam activities.
Many of those arriving at the embassy did not have passports and were staying in Cambodia without valid immigration documents, the embassy has said.
Source: CNA
