Cambodian authorities have arrested more than 1,000 people, including 75 Taiwanese, in raids on internet scam centers, police said yesterday, as Prime Minister Hun Manet ordered a crackdown on cybercrime sweatshops.
The UN has described Southeast Asia as the “ground zero” of scam centers, where workers typically use romance or business cons to defraud social media users of an estimated US$40 billion annually.
Hun Manet issued a directive made public on Tuesday, telling law enforcement and the military “to prevent and crack down on online scams,” warning they risk losing their jobs if they fail to take action.
Photo: screen grab from Cambodian National Police’s Facebook page
Over three days, authorities raided sites across the country, including in the capital Phnom Penh, the border city of Poipet and the coastal city of Sihanoukville.
Just over 1,000 suspects were detained, according to police reports, which continued to be announced late yesterday night.
The vast majority of the reported arrests were foreign nationals — including at least 271 Indonesians, 213 Vietnamese and 75 Taiwanese.
Many of those freed from Southeast Asian scam centers say they were trafficked or lured there under false pretences.
Abuses in Cambodia’s scam centers are happening on a “mass scale,” Amnesty International said in a report published last month.
There are at least 53 scam compounds in Cambodia where organized criminal groups carry out human trafficking, forced labor, child labor, torture, deprivation of liberty and slavery, the report said.
In March, Cambodia deported 119 Thais — among 230 foreign nationals detained during raids on alleged cyber-scam centers in Poipet.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime warned in April that the scam industry was expanding outside hotspots in Southeast Asia, with criminal gangs building up operations as far as South America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and some Pacific islands.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS