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 CEOCambodiaNews »

September 19, 2022
More requests to rescue foreigners received by Ministry of Interior
Amid the Kingdom’s effort to crackdown on human trafficking, Cambodian authorities have received two more requests to search for and rescue six foreigners.
This is according to General Khieu Sopheak, Secretary of State and spokesman for the Ministry of Interior.

Gen. Sopheak said that the two requests were for the rescue of two Chinese and four Vietnamese nationals.

In a separate case, on 17 September, police found and rescued a Bangladeshi human trafficking victim in Banteay Meanchey. Authorities are still investigating this case.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501153637/ ... -interior/
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Many cases of cyber-slavery coming to light are very recent, as in this case of six young Indians, who arrived in Cambodia to start 'work' only a few weeks ago, but have already called their parents for help.

INDIA
Six youths stranded in Cambodia, trapped by cyber gang
DECCAN CHRONICLE. | DC CORRESPONDENT
Published Sep 20, 2022, 11:28 am IST
KARIMNAGAR: Six youths from Karimnagar district were stranded in Cambodia as they got trapped in the hands of a cyber scam gang. The incident came to light when the youths sent a video message on Whatsapp to their parents on Monday.

The parents immediately rushed to lodge a complaint with police commissioner Satyanarayana.

The parents told the media that one Indo-Arab consultancy in Karimnagar lured the unemployed youths in the name of allotting them computer operator jobs abroad. After collecting `2 lakh from each, the consultancy sent them to Cambodia in the first week of September.

After reaching there, the job agencies, instead of allocating the youths the computer jobs, began forcing them to indulge in cyber crimes like crypto-currency, credit card scam and honey traps.

The cyber scam gang even threatened the youths that they will not be given their passports back if they refused to do what they were asked to do, and will be sent to jail on the charges of cybercrime, the parents here said.

The gang members are demanding that the youths pay `2.4 lakh each to send them back to India. The youths were tortured by the gang by beating them and giving them current shocks, alleged the parents.
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/ ... -gang.html
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 2:06 pm September 19, 2022
Making it count: Push to end human trafficking proving to be successful
The government is recording a series of successes in its crackdown on human trafficking, illegal labour and sexual trafficking, the latest being the rescue of 137 foreigners believed to have been illegally detained to work at an online gambling centre in Preah Sihanouk province.

The Preah Sihanouk Provincial Administration said in a statement yesterday that they were among 495 foreigners detained during a series of raids on the Xing Shanting centre, carried out from September 13 till Saturday, in Sihanoukville’s Bei [3]* commune.

The raids were carried out at three buildings in the centre during which the authorities checked the status of business licences, accommodation and foreign workers.

The other foreigners detained are believed to have knowingly been working illegally in the centre.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501153036/ ... uccessful/

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* Sihanoukville:This weekend's raids were carried out in Commune 3.
^^FOLLOW-UP - Results of 5-Day Police Raid in Sihanoukville
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Cambodia News Phnom Penh: On 18 September 2022, the Preah Sihanouk Provincial Administration issued a Press Release reporting the results of its five-day operation on the Xing Shanting Building (called Chang Chheng) in Sangkat 3, Sihanoukville between 13-17 September 2022.

Authorities identified six main offenses committed, including illegal gambling, incarceration, torture, illegal possession of weapons, prostitution and trafficking. The police have also opened investigations into massive money laundering offenses, based on the profits from illegal gambling, prostitution, extortion, and human trafficking.

The operation was led by Lt. Gen. Seang Thearith, Deputy Chief of the Central Security Department of the National Police, with the coordination of the Sihanoukville Provincial Prosecutor's Office. The site under investigation, the Xing Shanting Building, was housing nearly 500 foreigners of 4 different nationalities.

Following the raid, 141 illegal immigrants, comprising of 130 Chinese (3 females) and 11 Vietnamese (3 females) have been remanded and taken to the General Department of Immigration for interrogation and deportation. 27 other foreigners were taken to the provincial police station for questioning, including 12 suspected traffickers, 5 possible scam victims, and 10 sex workers.
Besides this, another 262 foreigners were found working without work permits and were fined.
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Exhibits confiscated from the investigations include 4 small firearms, mobile phones, a total of 8,776 computers, 804 desktop computers, 16 laptops, 36 passports, 12 storage devices, 4 pairs of handcuffs, 8 electric batons, 2 flashlights, some documents and cash money.
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The Sihanoukville Unity Command have also implemented the following measures:
1. All foreigners who have been fined must agree to leave the location voluntarily
2. Close all businesses located in the area of Xing Shanting (called Changcheng).
3. Close Building A, Building B and Building C while continuing the police investigation, until the investigation is complete.
4. Continue to investigate money laundering offenses and illegal gambling committed by the company
5. Continue to investigate the crime of money laundering on the basis of human trafficking and prostitution of 2 suspects.
6. Continue to investigate cases of illegal possession of firearms and related crimes.
7. Continue to search for the major suspect who is the mastermind behind the illegal businesses in the Xing Shanting buildings A,B, and C, and to ensure his arrest.
Image
The Preah Sihanouk Provincial Administration has further confirmed that it will continue to conduct administrative inspections at suspected illegal businesses and will take strict legal actions against foreigners involved in illegal business or gambling.
The Sihanoukville police also calls on all online traders who are hiding, to immediately stop such activities that are prohibited by law, or they will be closed down.
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

Post by AndyKK »

I can understand that it must be a little easier to find a place like above, but how would they detect, let us say a sole trader.
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

Post by phuketrichard »

its made international news< BBC... will things change now??

Cambodia scams: Lured and trapped into slavery in South East Asia
Weibin is among the thousands of workers who in recent months have fallen prey to human traffickers running job scams in South East Asia. Governments across a vast swathe of Asia - including Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan - have sounded the alarm.

Lured by ads promising easy work and extravagant job perks, many are tricked into travelling to Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand. Once they arrive, they are held prisoner and forced to work in online scam centres known as "fraud factories".

Human trafficking has long been an endemic problem in South East Asia. But experts say criminal networks are now looking further afield and preying on a different type of victim.
.....In one highly publicised case last month, more than 40 Vietnamese imprisoned in a Cambodian casino broke out of their compound and jumped into a river in an attempt to swim across the border. A 16-year-old died when he was swept away by the currents.
.....These companies are often cover for Chinese criminal syndicates, said rescue and advocacy group Global Anti-Scam Organization (Gaso).

"Many are quite sophisticated with separate departments for IT, finance, money laundering for example. The bigger ones can be corporate-like, with training provided for scamming, progress reports, quotas and sales targets," said Gaso spokesman Jan Santiago.

They're also multinational outfits, as the syndicates often partner local gangs to run their scam centres or do recruitment. Last month, Taiwanese authorities said more than 40 local organised crime groups were involved with South East Asian human trafficking operations.
full story:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-627 ... gn=KARANGA
In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. HST
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

Post by John Bingham »

It's been in international news for months.
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

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Maybe 5
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

INDONESIA
Ferdy Sambo's Consortium 303 Allegedly Linked to Human Trafficking
22 September 2022 11:23 WIB

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Chairman of the Migrant Care Migration Study Center, Anis Hidayah, said there are suspicions that the human trafficking case in Cambodia could be linked to the Consortium 303 of Ferdy Sambo. The consortium came under the spotlight following the murder investigation of Brigadier J a.k.a. Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat.

"We suspect that some of the victims were linked to the 303 consortium. The network is connected, including the 303 consortium," Anis said during the Emergency Discussion on Human Trafficking held at the USA Embassy in Jakarta, Wednesday, September 21.

Anis said they have received 183 reports from victims of trafficking from May to September 2022. The victims said that they fell into the trap in several areas in Cambodia such as in Sihanoukville, Chinatown, Bavet, Poipet, and Phnom Penh. Not only Cambodia, these syndicates are also connected to networks in the Philippines, Laos, Medan, and several regions in Indonesia.

"The wealthy bosses are connected to power, military, international syndicates," Anis said.

According to data from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, in 2022 hundreds of Indonesians have become victims of trafficking; 422 in Cambodia, 97 in the Philippines, 142 in Myanmar, 35 in Laos, and 21 in Thailand. Anis said some of them have not been evacuated.
In full: https://en.tempo.co/read/1637135/ferdy- ... rafficking
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Image
(Sihanoukville) At noon today, the Sihanoukville Provincial Police raided the Zhengheng New Energy Building in the city center.
The police officer, who did not want to be named, told the Cambodia-China Times reporter that the building was suspectedly holding a number of victims in illegal detention.
- Cambodia-China Times

Further information on the company cited above, ZhengHeng New Energy:
Local Chinese language news outlet Cambodia-China Times also reported a noon raid on Sunday of ZhengHeng New Energy’s office in Sihanoukville.

According to the Commerce Ministry’s business registry, ZhengHeng New Energy is directed by Zhu Ronghui, a Chinese national, with an office in Koh Pich’s Elite Town borey. The company’s contact details are the same as that of ZhengHeng Group in Phnom Penh.

Earlier this month, Zhengheng Group offered VOD editors money to remove its name from an article — and threatened vague legal actions if not — after the publication of an article about a worker trapped in a scam compound in Koh Kong’s Long Bay Resort complex, which Zhengheng Group is developing.
https://vodenglish.news/eerie-silence-d ... compounds/
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Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs (UPDATED)

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

^^ More details, raising more questions ...
The scandal of the Taiwanese man rescued from a scam center in Dara Sakor has raised questions about what is actually going on in the Koh Kong tourist project of Dara Sakor. Are development companies at the site, such as the Zheng Heng Group, complice in the illegal activities going on in their buildings ?

Trafficked Taiwanese rescued from a scam company in Cambodia... was it worth it?
Updated: Aug 25 [2022]
HIGHLIGHTS
Image
Properties in Long Bay, Dara Sakor developed by Chinese businessmen
GASO, along with journalists and anti-human trafficking NGOs, embarked on a rescue mission of a Taiwanese citizen trapped working for a scam company in Dara Sakor, Cambodia
Zhen Xu (alias) is a Taiwanese trapped working for a scam company in Long Bay inside a Chinese development property in Dara Sakor, Koh Kong province of Cambodia. The company targets Americans, Europeans, and lately Japanese for pig-butchering scams.
Zhen Xu was confined and worked inside one of the real estate properties developed by Chinese investors. According to Zhen Xu, whole buildings have been occupied by companies doing online scams.
...
Finally, who are behind the alleged scam operations workers who were human trafficked in Dara Sakor? Do owners of the properties housing those scam companies know of their activities?
Below is an organization chart from Zheng Heng Group. Zheng Heng group is a developer inside the same economic land concession (or "area" as Long Bay.) GASO will keep investigating.
Image
Sources:
http://www.zhgroup.com.kh/en/About/index/id/1004
http://www.zhgroup.com.kh/en/Content/index/id/1006
More articles on Dara Sakor Seashore Resort:
https://thepeoplesmap.net/project/cambo ... re-resort/

Cambodia Zhengheng Group
Chairman Deng Pibing, an overseas Chinese of Cambodian origin, was born in Hunan, China in the 1980s.
Image
In 2003, he came to Cambodia alone and was engaged in Internet information engineering at first. In 2010, he participated in the establishment of the Cambodian human resources information release platform CAMHR, and in 2017, he founded Cambodia Zhengheng Group, and in the same year, he founded Zhengheng Real Estate. In 2017, he also acquired CAMBO TECHNOLOGY Co., LTD, and in the next 3 years, through acquisition, establishment, etc. Invested in more than ten companies.
http://www.zhgroup.com.kh/Single/index/id/1016
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