Human rights group Amnesty International yesterday accused Cambodia’s government of “deliberately ignoring” abuses by cybercrime gangs that have trafficked people from across the world, including children, into slavery at brutal scam compounds.
The London-based group said in a report that it had identified 53 scam centers and dozens more suspected sites across the country, including in the Southeast Asian nation’s capital, Phnom Penh.
The prison-like compounds were ringed by high fences with razor wire, guarded by armed men and staffed by trafficking victims forced to defraud people across the globe, with those inside subjected to punishments including shocks from electric batons, confinement in dark rooms and beatings, Amnesty International said.
Photo: Reuters
The group said its findings revealed a “pattern of state failures” that allowed the billion-dollar industry to flourish, including failures to investigate human rights abuses, identify and assist people who have been targeted, and regulate security companies and tools of torture.
Cambodian government spokesman Pen Bona said the country rejected allegations of inaction, pointing to a task force led by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet formed in January and saying the report was “exaggerated.”
Cambodia was one of the victims of the scam industry and wanted cooperation rather than blame, Bona said.
While Cambodia has overseen raids that have freed some trafficked workers, Amnesty said it found more than two-thirds of scam compounds were either not investigated by police or had continued to operate even after police interventions.
Two compounds did appear to have been shut down, the group said.
During rescue efforts, police did not enter compounds, but met representatives who handed over only the person who had called for help, the group said, while some survivors were beaten by their bosses after trying to contact the police.
The government spokesman did not respond to those claims.
“Deceived, trafficked and enslaved, the survivors of these scamming compounds describe being trapped in a living nightmare — enlisted in criminal enterprises that are operating with the apparent consent of the Cambodian government,” Amnesty International secretary-general Agnes Callamard said.
Cambodia emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic as a hub for the global scam industry as mostly Chinese-led criminal groups repurposed unused casinos and hotels as scam centers housing as many as 100,000 people, according to the UN.
Similar enclaves have flourished in Myanmar and Laos.
The industry in Cambodia generates more than US$12.5 billion annually — half of the country’s GDP, according to the US Institute for Peace.
The criminal gangs entice people with fake job offers posted on social media and then force them to financially exploit people online including through fake romances or “pig-butchering” schemes in which the scammer builds trust with a target before stealing their money, Amnesty said.
Nine out of 58 people caught up in the scams and interviewed by Amnesty were children, the group said, including a 16-year-old from China who was kicked and barred from leaving.
Amnesty said it had confirmed the death of a Chinese child in one compound.
REBUILDING: A researcher said that it might seem counterintuitive to start talking about reconstruction amid the war with Russia, but it is ‘actually an urgent priority’ Italy is hosting the fourth annual conference on rebuilding Ukraine even as Russia escalates its war, inviting political and business leaders to Rome to promote public-private partnerships on defense, mining, energy and other projects as uncertainty grows about the US’ commitment to Kyiv’s defense. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were opening the meeting yesterday, which gets under way as Russia accelerated its aerial and ground attacks against Ukraine with another night of pounding missile and drone attacks on Kyiv. Italian organizers said that 100 official delegations were attending, as were 40 international organizations and development banks. There are
The tale of a middle-aged Chinese man, or “uncle,” who disguised himself as a woman to secretly film and share videos of his hookups with more than 1,000 men shook China’s social media, spurring fears for public health, privacy and marital fidelity. The hashtag “red uncle” was the top trending item on China’s popular microblog Sina Weibo yesterday, drawing at least 200 million views as users expressed incredulity and shock. The online posts told of how the man in the eastern city of Nanjing had lured 1,691 heterosexual men into sexual encounters at his home that he then recorded and distributed online. The
TARIFF ACTION: The US embassy said that the ‘political persecution’ against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro disrespects the democratic traditions of the nation The US and Brazil on Wednesday escalated their row over US President Donald Trump’s support for former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, with Washington slapping a 50 percent tariff on one of its main steel suppliers. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva threatened to reciprocate. Trump has criticized the prosecution of Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly plotting to cling on to power after losing 2022 elections to Lula. Brasilia on Wednesday summoned Washington’s top envoy to the country to explain an embassy statement describing Bolsonaro as a victim of “political persecution” — echoing Trump’s description of the treatment of Bolsonaro as
CEREMONY EXPECTED: Abdullah Ocalan said he believes in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons, and called on the group to put that into practice The jailed leader of a Kurdish militant group yesterday renewed a call for his fighters to lay down their arms, days before a symbolic disarmament ceremony is expected to take place as a first concrete step in a peace process with the Turkish state. In a seven-minute video message broadcast on pro-Kurdish Medya Haber’s YouTube channel, Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said that the peace initiative had reached a stage that required practical steps. “It should be considered natural for you to publicly ensure the disarmament of the relevant groups in a way that addresses the expectations
RSS