Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

Post by Anchor Moy »

This is taken from phuketrichard's article about the trafficked Bangladeshis.
We also reached out to Shahriar Alam, State Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh.

He said, "I remember about four years ago, some people went to Cambodia and that took me by surprise (since) the economic situation (of Cambodia) is pretty similar to ours. Later, I came to know that there are some garment factories, and some workers went there to work in garment factories. That made sense to me."

"But since then we have not received any complaints. No one reported such complaints to me, or it did not come to my notice," the minister said.

However, he added that they will definitely take steps if they receive any complaints.
Seems to me that the economic situation is not the only thing that is "pretty similar" in Bangladesh and in Cambodia - the Bangladeshi official-speak also sounds strangely familiar. :licker:
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

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Long read:
'Anything but normal': rescuer of Vietnamese trafficked to Cambodia
By Thanh Danh September 7, 2022 | 04:40 pm PT
A man of Vietnamese origin in Cambodia has spent the last three years rescuing Vietnamese tricked into exploitation to his country.

Three years ago Chea Sok of the Khmer-Vietnamese Association in Cambodia's Preah Sihanouk Province was contacted by two women from Vietnam's Central Highlands who pleaded with him to rescue them from a casino in Preah Sihanouk.

They said a ransom would be paid by their families in Vietnam.

Sok, who is Vietnamese but has been living for 35 years in Preah Sihanouk, recalls: "At first I thought it would be a normal transaction: I would give the casino the money and bring the people back.

"But only when I met them face-to-face did I realize the situation was anything but normal."

He went to the following winding trails to a remote location indicated by GPS about 10 km from the city.

It was a house in the middle of nowhere without windows and with walls three meters high.

Ten people were waiting for him and his companion, all armed to the teeth.

Despite their previous agreement, the group said Sok could only take one of the two women and he had to pay extra for the other to be released.

He turned his vehicle around, pretending to leave.

Referring to their efforts to extort more money than agreed, he taunted the guards saying: "There are dozens of you and only two of us. What are you afraid of?"

They seemed to take the bait and after further negotiations allowed both women to go without demanding extra money.

Sok and his partner had to make sure no one was following them before they let out sighs of relief.

It was the first time he had saved someone from a Cambodian casino.

Since then, he and his friends at the association have helped countless Vietnamese escape from human trafficking dens and remain safe until they could leave for home.

The Vietnamese embassy in Cambodia said Vietnamese authorities have worked with their Cambodian counterparts to bring back over 600 citizens who had been tricked into becoming illegal workers in Cambodia.

But Sok said many victims of human trafficking rings also find a way to escape on their own without contacting Vietnamese diplomatic representatives in Cambodia.
Full article: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/anyth ... 08048.html
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

Post by phuketrichard »

Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, has stated today that the listing of Cambodia on the money laundering ‘Grey List’ and the human trafficking ‘Black List’ is doing grave damage to Cambodia’s reputation
Ya think??? :facepalm:
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501147542/ ... uTF2qPWdCY
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

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CEOCambodiaNews wrote: Wed Sep 07, 2022 11:02 pm CEO News: The editorial line of the Epoch Times is fervently anti-CCP
I know, I meant to say it more that they are an anti-CCP biased news source. I am all about anti-CCP, but the FaLunGong goes about it in ways that are sometimes...embellished.
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

For information:
An English language hotline has been set up for foreigners who wish to report crimes such as human trafficking or kidnapping:
(+855) 097 9117 117
newsworthy/separate-english-crime-hotli ... 51337.html
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Four Vietnamese file complaints in Cambodia regarding labor detention, trafficking
By Phan Anh September 9, 2022 | 03:35 am PT

Four Vietnamese have filed complaints to Cambodian authorities requesting intervention regarding labor detention and trafficking.

Khieu Sopheak, Cambodia's Secretary of State, said that 12 complaints from 16 foreigners have been filed via Cambodian police's hotline number 117, including four Vietnamese. The foreigners were located in Oddar Meanchey, Preah Sihanouk, Koh Kong, Kandal and Phnom Penh, though Sopheak did not specify exactly where the four Vietnamese were located, Khmer Times reported.

A total 137 complaints from 274 foreigners were received by Cambodian authorities from Aug. 18 to Sept. 7, all requesting intervention to be rescued from alleged detainment and human trafficking, he added.
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/four- ... 09406.html
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

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24 more Malaysians rescued from Cambodia human traffickers
Malaysia’s foreign minister has brought 24 Malaysians back from Cambodia who were rescued from human traffickers, out of a total of 148 citizens he said have been reported missing in the country
ByThe Associated Press
September 9, 2022, 3:54 PM
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia's foreign minister on Friday brought 24 Malaysians back from Cambodia who were rescued from human traffickers, out of a total of 148 citizens he said have been reported missing in the country.

Saifuddin Abdullah said 65 of the 148 missing Malaysians were rescued and brought home earlier, and 29 others are still at immigration centers in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville and will be sent home when their paperwork and investigations are completed. Another 30 remain missing, officials said...
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wi ... s-89589335
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

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What is the relation between Cambodia’s human trafficking scam and China’s Belt and Road Initiatives?
Chinese investors and fugitives are behind the crime network
Written by Oiwan Lam
Posted 7 September 2022 0:24 GMT

Thousands of victims across Asia have been lured by job scams and occasionally love cons, through messaging apps, kidnapped and forced to work for the scam network in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, a special economic zone under China’s Belt and Road Initiatives.

Following the arrest of She Zhijiang, a wanted Chinese billionaire running a mega gambling ring across Asia, by Bangkok police in mid-August 2022, Cambodia’s human trafficking and scam operations dominated headlines in many Asia countries, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, Malaysia, Vietnam and more, as their citizens have been conned and enslaved through a cross-border crime network.

The recently arrested Chinese billionaire She Zhijiang is the biggest investor in Sihanoukville and Shwe Kokko.

According to a report from mainland Chinese finance news outlet Caixin in 2020, Zhijiang has been listed as a fugitive by mainland Chinese authorities since 2012 for operating an online gambling business. Yet somehow he managed to set up a company, Yatai International Holding Group Limited, in Hong Kong in 2017 and presented himself as a key investor in the mainland Chinese Belt and Road Initiatives. Yatai has made many gambling-related investments, including resort and hotel compounds, in Myanmar, Cambodia and the Philippines. Zhijiang will be extradited to mainland China for trial:

In addition to Zhijiang, there have been other mainland Chinese investors in the gambling business in Sihanoukville. Dong Le-Cheng, the wealthiest businessman in Ruili city of Yunnan province, is behind the Jinshui hotel compound in Sihanoukville. He was convicted of illegal online gambling in 2008 but was sentenced to probation after assisting in a crime network crackdown. After becoming involved in a corruption investigation in November 2014, Dong transferred his business to Sihanoukville, Cambodia. But he denied his involvement in the cross-border scam:

Another mainland Chinese fugitive investor in Cambodia is Xu Aimin. Xu’s online gambling empire in China was shut down by police authorities in December 2012, but in the same month, he set up a company in Hong Kong for money laundering purposes. In 2013 he was issued an Interpol red notice, an international arrest warrant. However, he managed to bribe officials so he could set up a gambling empire in Cambodia.

Some analysts see the crime network as an unintended consequence of China’s Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI). Under the trade agreement, China’s BRI partners provide land and tax exemption to Chinese investors. These favorable terms attract opportunists, including criminals, to invest in high-risk businesses.

China began to acknowledge the criminal activities, including gambling, money laundering and human trafficking crimes, in Cambodia committed by Chinese citizens in 2018.

Illegal online gambling hurts China too. In 2019, the online gambling business cashed out USD 2.6 billion out of the country. Then, in 2020, thanks to the COVID-19 lockdown, online gambling and underground banking laundered a total of USD 150 billion from China.

Hence, China called on its BRI partners to help crack down on cross-border online gambling in 2019 and Cambodia issued a ban beginning in 2020 and joined forces with Chinese police to crack down on scams.

This led to an exodus of Chinese from Cambodia. However, the online gambling and scam businesses returned in a few months and moved underground, according to a report from the Asia Gaming Brief.
https://globalvoices.org/2022/09/07/wha ... itiatives/
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

Post by AndyKK »

What is the relation, because it doesn't mention anything in the article that is wrote above?
Always "hope" but never "expect".
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

Post by violet »

AndyKK wrote: Sun Sep 11, 2022 12:25 am What is the relation, because it doesn't mention anything in the article that is wrote above?
It does
The recently arrested Chinese billionaire She Zhijiang is the biggest investor in Sihanoukville and Shwe Kokko.

According to a report from mainland Chinese finance news outlet Caixin in 2020, Zhijiang has been listed as a fugitive by mainland Chinese authorities since 2012 for operating an online gambling business. Yet somehow he managed to set up a company, Yatai International Holding Group Limited, in Hong Kong in 2017 and presented himself as a key investor in the mainland Chinese Belt and Road Initiatives. Yatai has made many gambling-related investments, including resort and hotel compounds, in Myanmar, Cambodia and the Philippines.
Despite what angsta states, it’s clear from reading through his posts that angsta supports the free FreePalestine movement.
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