56 [Thais] rescued from call scammers
published : 3 Mar 2022 at 10:06
writer: Post Reporters

Another 56 Thais have safely returned from Cambodia where they were duped into working for a call centre gang and held for ransom, according to police.

The latest group of Thais, all victims of an employment scam, crossed the Thai-Cambodian friendship bridge at the Klong Luek checkpoint in Sa Kaeo after they were handed over by Cambodian authorities Wednesday afternoon.

Thailand's assistant national police chief, Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, who also serves as deputy director of the Royal Thai Police's women and children protection and anti-human trafficking centre, was on hand to meet them.

The returnees were taken for health checks before entering quarantine at a facility in Aranyaprathet district.

Pol Lt Gen Surachate said police were alerted to their plight after they sought help on social media.

Police alerted the Thai embassy in Phnom Pehn, which told the Cambodian police. The local authorities raided the call centre in the resort city of Sihanoukville and conducted the rescue operation.

The victims said they heard about supposedly well-paying jobs in Cambodia through social media and decided to try their luck.

One of the victims, who declined to be named, said they walked across the border and were picked up by the gang. They were taken to Sihanoukville and forced to scam people in Thailand by phone.

They later demanded to be freed but the gang refused. They were held hostage and told that their families in Thailand must pay 100,00 baht per head to have them released.

The Thais were detained in small rooms and given scant food. Some were beaten and told they would be sold to other employers, according to police.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2272911/

March 6, 2022
More than 30 Indonesian nationals rescued from online gambling syndicate on Kandal, sold from Sihanoukville

Khmer Times has been actively reporting various cases of recue of various nationals from human trafficking rings which traded people who were lured into the online gambling scene throughout the country, be it in Sihanoukville, Koh Kong, Phnom Penh and Thai border provinces.

Now Kandal became the latest to be dragged into this quagmire when 44 Indonesian nationals were rescued from online gambling syndicates in the province’s Chrey Thum district on February 26 after days of negotiations and careful planning and coordination with Cambodian law enforcement agencies and the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom penh.

While the rescue of the 44 is not really shocking as such incidents have received widespread coverage in Khmer Times and other vernacular media, the exposure that more than 30 of the 44 rescued, had gone through a harrowing time when they were traded like cattle by another online gambling syndicate from Sihanoukville to Chry Thum and relocated there.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501036544/ ... noukville/

Next up Bangladesh ,

The news that Cambodia is allegedly an Asian online slave center is getting around.

Cambodia Told to Shut Down ‘Slave Compounds’ After Warnings From Asian Embassies
The country’s interior minister says he will end the crime wave in Sihanoukville by mid-year.
By Luke Hunt
March 11, 2022

SIHANOUKVILLE — The Cambodian government has been told to urgently address “a crisis of forced labor, slavery and torture” after warnings were issued by at least five Asian embassies amid persistent reports detailing kidnapping and extortion rackets, particularly on this country’s south coast.

Thirty-five civil society groups said reports indicated that thousands of people, mostly foreign nationals, had found themselves trapped in large compounds and forced to work after being kidnapped, sold, trafficked, or tricked into accepting jobs in Cambodia.

“Workers who escape report having faced physical and mental threats and violence at the hands of their captors,” they said in a joint statement, calling for a coordinated mass response between the Cambodian and foreign governments, and international organizations including the United Nations.

Most of the alleged victims were put to work in online scamming operations, targeting foreign nationals who live outside the country, primarily based from here in the southern port town of Sihanoukville, which has a long held a reputation as a notorious haven for criminals who operate with impunity.
In full: https://thediplomat.com/2022/03/cambodi ... embassies/

How F... difficult could it be to stop these chinese gangsters?

The whole world is now attaching "modern slavery" to what used to be my favourit city, Sihanoukville.

How does a sleepy beach resort become the center of vile crimes against innocent people? It is indeed shamefull! very, very shamefull. And shame on all the local goverment officials that takes "tea money" to look the other way. Sihanoukville was supposed to be the place in which I would spend my winters in my retirement in 5 years time. Now that plan want out the window. So F.... You top blokes!

When you see the level of development/ construction around the country, not just in Sihanoukville, it gives you an idea about how easily you can hide hundreds of people and commit large scale extortion and scams.

Cambodia Told to Shut Down ‘Slave Compounds’ After Warnings From Asian Embassies
The country’s interior minister says he will end the crime wave in Sihanoukville by mid-year.
By Luke Hunt
March 11, 2022

Hahaha not going to happen

After years of inaction or even encouraging it had lead to this. Great advertising for tourist to return.

SIHANOUKVILLE — The Cambodian government has been told to urgently address “a crisis of forced labor, slavery and torture” after warnings were issued by at least five Asian embassies amid persistent reports detailing kidnapping and extortion rackets, particularly on this country’s south coast.

It seems easy to see, or not, but ether way it's a good ride for some in the pandemic lull.

61 call scammers nabbed in Cambodian swoops
published : 25 Mar 2022 at 04:00

Sixty-one people -- 59 Thais and two Chinese -- have been detained during raids on a phone scam gang working in Preah Sihanouk province in Cambodia, say Thai police.

Twenty-eight were being treated as suspects, five were lured into the operation but had since been rescued, and the rest were still being investigated, Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas, director of the Police Cyber Taskforce (PCT), said yesterday.

Teams of Thai and Cambodian police raided two premises used as offices by the gang in Preah Sihanouk on Sunday, said Pol Gen Damrongsak, a deputy national police chief.

The first building was an abandoned factory on Santepheap Road. Callers operating from there told their victims that parcels had been sent to them by DHL or FedEx, but customs officials had seized them because they contained illegal goods.

Later, a person pretending to be a police officer at Chiang Mai's Muang station would contact them and ask to examine their finances. The victims were lured into transferring money to the bogus officer, Pol Gen Damrongsak said.

Police arrested 28 people at the factory, including three alleged gang leaders -- two Chinese and a Thai man identified as Pornsak Reephol. They were charged with colluding in public fraud, illegal assembly and money laundering.

The arresting team seized 30 iPhones, eight communication radios, four notebook computers, copies of conversations between gang members and their victims, fake arrest warrants and other documents.

The joint police team also raided Diwei Entertainment City Building on 2 Thnou Road, where a casino masked a phone scam operation on the fifth floor. Thirty-three Thais were found talking on phones to intended victims when officers entered the office, Pol Gen Damrongsak said.

A total of 61 scammers were caught at the two locations. Five snared into working for the gang were taken to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2284742/

March 25, 2022
Police in Chongqing bust online fraudsters with links all the way to Cambodia, among others

With China strengthening efforts to combat telecom and online fraud in recent years, Chongqing police cracked down on a large transnational criminal group involved in around 470 cases involving funds amounting to some 350 million yuan ($54.91 million) last month.

“This case involved a large sum of money, many suspects and activities in several foreign countries, including Cambodia, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates and Myanmar,” said Tu Ruquan, director of the Banan anti-fraud center, who led the operation.

In mid-June, Banan police received a crime lead from the Ministry of Public Security. A preliminary investigation found that the crimes were the work of a telecom fraud gang based in Southeast Asia, which had rented offices and equipment in Cambodia, the Philippines and elsewhere, through fake online investment platforms.

“It is still under investigation, and we are trying to recover as much of the money lost by victims as possible,” Ruquan said.

Under the guidance of the Chongqing Public Security Bureau Criminal Investigation Corps, officers from the Banan district public security sub-bureau have visited 12 provinces and cities around the country in pursuit of the group, arresting 168 suspects and freezing 63 million yuan in assets related to fraudulent activities since June.

In the past few years, many Chinese people have fallen victim to a variety of online fraud. A China Internet Network Information Center report showed that by the end of June, 17.2 percent of netizens had been defrauded.

Data from the Supreme People’s Court, the country’s top court, revealed that the sums involved amounted to 35.4 billion yuan last year alone.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501047258/ ... ng-others/