Cambodia Breaking News: A 30-year-old Ukrainian, BABAIAN MIRAB, is accused of scamming about $8,000 USD from a Cambodia woman.

She reached out to CEO to tell us that she allegedly got scammed by an Armenian man holding a Ukraine passport under the name BABAIAN MIRAB. She says he scammed her for $8,231 USD, not yet including the interest that she spent borrowing money from other people for him. She knew him for a year and their relationship was as brother and sister. On April 29, at 4 pm, he came to talk to her about the school CIS (Canadian International School), where he worked as a music teacher, saying they needed musical instruments for the school. He didn't have enough money to buy them, so he came to talk to her about buying the instruments and selling them to the school, and he would share the profit. She decided to help him so that she could share the profits with him. After getting the money, he never paid her back. When she sent him a message, he said he didn't have money and he had no job. She says that's a lie because he worked as a music teacher at two places, CIS (Canadia International School) in Koh Pich and Symphony Music School in Beung Kengkong.

On September 11, at 03:20 pm she was told to go to the police. Because Mirab Babaian is a foreigner, the police told her to go to the immigration office in Wat Koh. She went to the police station in Wat Koh at 4:43 pm; the police there told her to go to Phnom Penh police station on Sotheros road. She followed their instructions and went there, but was told to go to the ministry of interior. On September 16, at 03:13 pm, she went to the royal gendarmerie, but they told her that they couldn't help because the suspect is a foreigner, and that she needed to handle it through the immigration office. On September 20, at 10:00 am, she went to file the complaint at the ministry of interiors, but at 2 pm, she received a call that she would need to submit the complaint at the court.

Her case has been sent back and forth and she has not received any help yet.

Canadian International School of Phnom Penh has since reached out to CEO and had this to say:

'Mirab Babaian was signed to a contract at CIS to work as a Strings Tutor and Music Assistant. Unfortunately, this contract was never completely executed as Mr. Babaian was not able to produce his passport for the required working permit. Every teacher at CIS is fully qualified and certified and each one complies with legal requirements in Cambodia for employment. Mr. Babaian also represented a local company that supplied our school with string instruments. Our school paid fully for these instruments as per the company instructions and were not involved in any discussions with the company beyond this. We trust that this clarifies our school's relationship with Mr. Babaian, and hope that the larger situation is resolved amicably for all parties involved. We appreciate the interest in our school and welcome all families to come and visit our campus to find out more about the programs, facilities, and dedicated staff we have to offer to the Phnom Penh community.'





Here is a video of her confronting him in Phnom Penh:

As far as I understand, this is under article 377 of the Penal Code - Fraud - but the correct way is to consult a lawyer and go to court.

The Judge will then issue an arrest warrant, to be executed by the National Police and the local authorities.

Filing with the Ministry of the Interior is helpful as the Judge can see the case is registered with them also.

The employment not permitted Visa in the picture is under the Immigration Law and may serve as leverage.

Good luck with this...

The alleged scam aside, this is both a rather hilarious and sad example of Cambodian bureaucracy. It should be shared amongst Khmers just to remind them how inept their government and civil servants can be.

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 1:08 pm On September 11, at 03:20 pm she was told to go to the police. Because Mirab Babaian is a foreigner, the police told her to go to the immigration office in Wat Koh. She went to the police station in Wat Koh at 4:43 pm; the police there told her to go to Phnom Penh police station on Sotheros road. She followed their instructions and went there, but was told to go to the ministry of interior. On September 16, at 03:13 pm, she went to the royal gendarmerie, but they told her that they couldn't help because the suspect is a foreigner, and that she needed to handle it through the immigration office. On September 20, at 10:00 am, she went to file the complaint at the ministry of interiors, but at 2 pm, she received a call that she would need to submit the complaint at the court.

Her case has been sent back and forth and she has not received any help yet.

Holy fuck, talk about getting the run-around.

Now I don't feel so bad about the fucktardidness I've experienced at various Cambodian ministries I had the misfortune of having to deal with.

They do it to their own people too.

Mishmash wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 2:28 pm
The employment not permitted Visa in the picture is under the Immigration Law and may serve as leverage.

That visa is from 2018.

Username Taken wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 4:12 pm

Mishmash wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 2:28 pm
The employment not permitted Visa in the picture is under the Immigration Law and may serve as leverage.

That visa is from 2018.

Evidently he wasn't snaffling the cash to pay his WP and Visa then.

Hopefully the lady will get her money and the con-man enjoys a spell in the clink with Bubba

Surely CIS wouldn't have employed him without a valid visa? Does he even work there? $1400 is a decent salary for a music teacher

mcam wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 5:07 pm Surely CIS wouldn't have employed him without a valid visa? Does he even work there? $1400 is a decent salary for a music teacher

If you look at the hand written promise to the lady in the photos - dated 5th Aug 2019 you will see the hipster scam skunk quotes his visa as TI 16220216 which is the expired one "Employment not Permitted" shown also.

Looks like CIS slipped up here...

Can see him here also https://simphonyart.com/teachers/mirab-babaian/ and various other mentions on the net for doing gigs.

Never trust a "fiddler"....

Sorry a quick look at their FB page and hes on some photos so hes certainly employed there. Funny they have quite alot of musical instruments in their FB photos. Guess hes going to be in big trouble at school in the morning if he shows up.

All schools employ non work permit barangs.They just need teachers even i could be one.