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

Cambodia news in English! Here you'll find all the breaking news from Cambodia translated into English for our international readership and expat community to read and comment on. The majority of our news stories are gathered from the local Khmer newspapers, but we also bring you newsworthy media from Cambodia before you read them anywhere else. Because of the huge population of the capital city, most articles are from Phnom Penh, but Siem Reap, Sihanoukville, and Kampot often make the headlines as well. We report on all arrests and deaths of foreigners in Cambodia, and the details often come from the Cambodian police or local Khmer journalists. As an ASEAN news outlet, we also publish regional news and events from our neighboring countries. We also share local Khmer news stories that you won't find in English anywhere else. If you're looking for a certain article, you may use our site's search feature to find it quickly.
User avatar
yong
Expatriate
Posts: 4267
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2018 12:03 pm
Reputation: 2769
Thailand

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

Post by yong »

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The-B ... 2&si=44594

Image
Criminal networks linked to online gambling and fraud are further burnishing Cambodia's reputation for endemic corruption. © Photo by Vann Soben

Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs
Illicit industry traffics thousands of victims from China through Southeast Asia
SHAUN TURTON, Contributing WriterSeptember 1, 2021 06:00 JST

PHNOM PENH -- The first punch lands on the left side of the young man's face, the second on the right.

Several more follow. Knees strike his stomach. He cannot defend himself, his hands are cuffed. His attacker, face outside the frame, has his fist wrapped in cloth.

He drags his victim by the lapels into the middle of the frame, faces him to the camera and tells him to speak.

"Dad, I'm in Cambodia, I'm not inside of China," says the young man, through tears, his voice breaking and blood streaming from his nose. "I beg you, please send money."

The ransom video, which was sent to the victim's parents, was one of several shown to Nikkei Asia by Li*, a person who helps rescue human trafficking victims in Cambodia.


Image
This ransom video supplied to Nikkei shows a handcuffed man being beaten with a stick while other victims watch in horror.

Another video shows a shirtless man cuffed on the ground being beaten with a stick while two more captives, handcuffed to a nearby window grill, watch on in terror. In a third, a grounded man, a foot on his neck, writhes in pain as he is electrocuted with a Taser.

The videos provide a window into the dark world run by transnational criminal networks able to smuggle people from China, through Vietnam and into Cambodia and Myanmar.

The networks, which are known mainly for running online gambling operations, force their captives to perpetrate online scams. They grew out of an influx of online gambling groups and casino operators, mostly from China, who flocked to the coastal city of Sihanoukville in 2016. They found in Cambodia a haven of low taxes and lax regulations after a clampdown in the Philippines.

Catering mostly to the community in mainland China, where all gambling except state-run lotteries is illegal, Sihanoukville quickly attracted aspirational labels like "the Macao of Southeast Asia."

Image

At its peak in 2019, the city's online gaming sector was generating several billions of dollars annually, according to one expert, and employing tens of thousands. Demand for space soared, kicking off an unprecedented building boom, which drew more workers from China.

But as the city rapidly grew, the criminality at the core of many gambling networks became plain to see, spilling out into the street with fights, shootings and murders.

The bubble burst later that year when Cambodian Prime Minister HE, pointing to the threat of organized crime, announced a ban on online gambling.

The ban was widely seen as a result of pressure from Beijing, Cambodia's largest source of aid and investment, which has pursued a yearslong crackdown against online gambling operators.


Image
Cambodia's state apparatus and security services are entwined with Prime Minister HE's Cambodian People's Party. © Reuters

Still, the Southeast Asian nation, notorious for endemic corruption, has continued to be used as a base for the criminal networks linked to online gambling and fraud.

Mostly from China, but also other Southeast Asian nations, victims are kidnapped by these groups, held captive and forced, under threat of violence, to perpetrate web scams.

Getting a clear picture of the numbers is difficult. "This is something where there's clearly no oversight," said Jason Tower, the Myanmar country director for the United States Institute of Peace. Li estimated at least 30,000 people have been trafficked to Cambodia, while Chhay Kim Kheoun, a spokesman for the Cambodia National Police, denied the number of victims was in the thousands. He said he could not give a figure but acknowledged "some" cases have happened.

Tower, who has studied the activities of online gambling companies in China and Southeast Asia, estimated victims of these types of internet scams in mainland China could range between 100,000 and half a million.

He said there were "hundreds" of job advertisements on social media every day, attempting to lure Chinese workers to places in Cambodia and Myanmar associated with the criminal networks.

"This is a major problem," he said. "I don't think we have a sense of what the precise scope of it is at this point."

Sleeping, eating or working

On his second day in Cambodia, Hua* realized he was a captive.


Image
"The Macao of Southeast Asia" is becoming known for more than gambling. (Photo by Vann Soben)

The 29-year-old was somewhere in the coastal province of Preah Sihanouk, but he could not see the ocean. He guessed there were about 1,000 people in the walled compound, made up mostly of two-story buildings that looked to him like a neighborhood from his native China. There was little else around.

A supervisor gave him a cellphone, showed him to a computer and told him to download Chinese social networking apps. Each day, until the early morning, he was told to befriend women in China, gain their trust and entice them to invest in bitcoin.

Every few days, the bosses held performance meetings. Earners would be rewarded, allowed to start late. People whose work was deemed unsatisfactory would be beaten.

"We were either sleeping or eating or we were working," he told Nikkei.

Captives are subjected to violence and torture, which is sometimes filmed and sent to relatives to spur them to send ransoms. Some have been killed and their deaths reported as suicide, according to workers who have escaped.

Some are sold between companies. Prices start at around $8,000 but vary depending on the financial means of a victim's family.

The groups are referred to broadly as running online gambling operations but within that category exists a spectrum of activity. It ranges from websites offering live casino games for players in mainland China to blatant digital and telephone scams run by captives under duress.

Image
Chinese suspects arrested for pulling scams are deported to China in 2019. (Photo by Vann Soben)

The networks are mostly headed by Chinese nationals, but there are also groups run by people from elsewhere in Southeast Asia. According to details of cases shared with Nikkei, they are able to buy the protection of some local authority figures in Cambodia.

The scale of this illicit industry is large but hard to pin down. Since 2020, Chinese police have arrested more than 130,000 people linked to 24,000 cases of cross-border gambling. However, the statistics, reported by Chinese state-run Legal Daily, do not refer specifically to trafficking crimes connected to the networks.

The Chinese and Vietnamese embassies in Cambodia this year have issued warnings about the threat posed by trafficking groups that lure victims with offers of high-paying jobs. In January, China urged its citizens to sign formal labor contracts before going to Cambodia to work.

"Otherwise, what awaits you is not a high salary, but the illegal imprisonment and kidnapping by online gambling dens," the Chinese embassy wrote.


Image
Sihanoukville: In June, China and Cambodia announced that a joint law enforcement office would crack down on perpetrators of kidnapping, extortion, online gambling and fraud. (Photo by Vann Soben)

In June, China and Cambodia announced that their joint law enforcement office would launch a crackdown after complaints about kidnapping, extortion, online gambling and fraud.

The head of the task force, Wu Jianmin, warned Chinese criminals behind such operations would be arrested and repatriated, even those who had become naturalized Cambodian citizens.

In the past 18 months, some 468 mainland Chinese and 37 from Taiwan were granted Cambodian citizenship, according to figures cited by local outlet the Cambodia China Times. During the same period, 83 people from other countries were naturalized.

"Cambodian nationality ... will not make Cambodia a safe haven for them," Wu said at a virtual news conference attended by Cambodia's National Police Chief Neth Savoeun and China's Deputy Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong.

Hefty penalties await those extradited back to China. In August a court in Shanghai sentenced two men to 15 and 14 years in prison for involvement in web scam syndicates in Sihanoukville and Indonesia, according to a report in The People's Daily.

'Basically, these people are slaves'

On a recent afternoon at a cafe in Phnom Penh, Mr. Li* scrolled through his phone, displaying details of some of the 170 victims he has helped to rescue.

Li is part of a volunteer network of Chinese businessmen living in Cambodia. While authorities do target the groups, the work of helping the victims to escape has fallen largely on this network, which raises funds from the Chinese expatriate community and arranges transport, safe hotels, food and, in many cases, medical treatment.

They also liaise with authorities in Cambodia and China to organize victims' paperwork and travel documents.

Photos on Li's phone show swollen faces and bruised bodies, serious injuries inflicted by fists, feet and weapons like knives, sticks and Tasers, he says.

"They are not human beings," he says of the trafficking groups. "They are gangsters and drug dealers back in China, but they can't live in China anymore."

In addition to the people forced into slave-like conditions under online gambling groups in Cambodia, Li believes the number across Southeast Asia could run into the hundreds of thousands, with Myanmar and the Philippines also hot spots for this type of trafficking.

Typically at these organizations, some of the workers, such as security guards, managers, and programmers, are treated well and paid. The remainder are duped and coerced. In his experience, 10% of those trafficked are women who are used for sex work at the compounds or made to perform pornographic shows on webcams.

"Basically these people are slaves," Li said. "I pity these young people. Most think they can get a job with a high salary."

Such was the case for Hua, who worked for a food delivery company and at a karaoke bar in China.

He had left his home in Hubei Province believing he would work in customer service for between $4,000 and $5,000 a month.

He had spotted the job on the WeChat Chinese social media platform, and the person who answered his call was convincing, he said. Soon, he was on a bus headed to the Guangxi autonomous region. Then, together with about six others, he was smuggled across the mountains into northern Vietnam. From there, another bus took them to the Cambodian border where they again disembarked and "took a small path" to avoid border authorities.

"It sounded real," Hua recalled of the job offer. "But when I arrived in Sihanoukville, I was disappointed, it was different to what I had imagined."

After a month of working for no salary, Hua decided to pay for his freedom. The ransom, $15,000, was presented as a bill.

"They counted everything: transport inside and outside China, accommodation, meals, border crossings, things I used like cellphones, computers, chairs," he said.

"My family gathered the money. ... They remortgaged the house and borrowed it from relatives. Someone came to my hometown to collect it."

Image
Wang Xiaohong spoke at a recent press conference about China's efforts to crackdown on Chinese criminals in Cambodia. © Reuters

Operating across borders, the traffickers and online gambling groups pay local authority figures for protection or, at the very least, to look the other way, Nikkei has been told. In one case, local police officers accompanied bosses and bodyguards from an online gambling group as they tried to recapture trafficked workers who had escaped.

Some cases have received public attention. A Cambodian court in April charged Soum Pov, a former two-star military general, and six accomplices after they were caught trying to smuggle 28 Chinese nationals across the Cambodia-Vietnam border using military-plated vehicles, according to a local news report.

Tep Phalla, a spokesman for the court, said Pov remained in custody while the case was under investigation. "[The case] is in the hands of the investigating judge; they are working on it," he said.

The United States Trafficking in Persons Report places Cambodia on the tier 2 watchlist, meaning it does not meet minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.

It says "endemic corruption at many levels of government" severely limits efforts to fight trafficking, pointing to "consistent credible allegations of complicity" of officials in trafficking.

It goes on to say police sometimes tip off sex-trafficking establishments about raids, protecting venues in exchange for monthly payments or sexual favors from victims.

"Contacts alleged prosecutors and judges accepted bribes in return for dismissal of charges, acquittals, and reduced sentencing," the report states. "Corrupt officials often thwarted progress in cases where the perpetrators were believed to have political, criminal or economic ties to government officials."

Cambodia's state apparatus and security services are entwined with the ruling Cambodian People's Party. Top generals, police chiefs, judges and ministers belong to the party's central committee. The head of the party, HE, is the world's longest serving prime minister, having held the position for 36 years.

In another recent case to hit the headlines, local newspaper the Khmer Times spoke with several people tricked and held captive by a group running online scams based at a compound in Otres Beach, near Sihanoukville.

The case came to light after four Filipino victims were able to escape. Victims who spoke to the newspaper said they were recruited online, transported from Phnom Penh and had their passports taken upon arrival. They were told to create online profiles and lure unsuspecting men into investing in cryptocurrency and investment scams by pretending to be young women.

While a local police station was "meters from the complex," officers were "afraid" to enter, the Khmer Times reported.

Cambodian authorities dealt with 139 cases of human trafficking and 59 cases of sexual exploitation in the first half of 2021, reported Xinhua, which noted the figures had risen year-on-year.

Chou Bun Eng, permanent vice chairperson of the National Committee for Counter Trafficking (NCCT) and a secretary of state at Cambodia's Interior Ministry, referred questions about trafficking linked to online gambling groups to the National Police.

Kim Kheoun, the spokesman for Cambodia's National Police, said police were "trying hard" to tackle this type of human trafficking but found it difficult to due "a lack of cooperation" from the victims, their families and others involved.

Asked about complicity among officials, including police officers, he said: "I don't' accept this, but if there's such a case [of corruption] please point the officer out exactly."

China strengthens clampdown

China's mounting pressure on these groups in Cambodia forms part of a broader clampdown against online gambling networks. They are linked to more than $145 billion in illicit outflows from the mainland, according to comments last year by Liao Jinrong, the director-general of the International Cooperation Department of China's Ministry of Public Security, cited in state-run media.

Beijing has targeted payment services used by the groups to move money offshore and announced a "blacklist" of countries known as gambling destinations, on which it would impose restrictions.

While the list has not been made public, Southeast Asia is in the crosshairs.

In a 2020 paper, Tower and Priscilla Clapp, both from USIP, traced the development of "gambling cities" backed by shady Chinese investors, some with triad links, who had moved among the Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar to avoid law enforcement crackdowns.

The ban by HE led many groups behind Cambodia's gambling boom to relocate to Myanmar, particularly border areas under the control of ethnic minority armed forces, Tower and Clapp wrote.

"The spread of these types of criminal actors is something that you're seeing around the globe now, happening on a larger and larger scale," Tower said. "These Chinese criminal networks, who were doing the same sorts of things in China a few years ago, are now being chased overseas, they're finding space where you have corrupt actors and continue doing the same sorts of things.

"There is increasing evidence they are trafficking people into these zones, including Chinese nationals, who are effectively prevented from leaving. They're really working to try and get as many people as possible because their activities are labor-intensive."

Beijing's pressure campaign has intensified. The South China Morning Post in July reported tens of thousands were caught up in a crackdown after Chinese authorities ordered "all nationals in northern Myanmar" to return to the mainland.

As in Cambodia, Northern Myanmar was being used as a base by traffickers who were luring Chinese citizens with fake job ads promising high salaries, the Chinese state tabloid Global Times warned in March.

Once there, victims were held captive and forced into online gambling rackets and telecom scams and other crimes like selling drugs. Some kidnapped women were forced into prostitution, the newspaper reported.

China's security apparatus also continues to scrutinize its citizens' activities in Cambodia.

Chinese social media posts indicate that Chinese citizens with frequent or long stays in Cambodia are being quizzed by police when returning to China, with officers grilling them on what they do, where they stay, and demanding they show paperwork proving their work or business activities in Cambodia are legitimate.

The families of Chinese expats in Cambodia are also receiving calls from law enforcement agencies in China asking questions about what their family members do in Cambodia.

"It has been happening to many Chinese expats," said one Chinese expatriate based in Cambodia and engaged in humanitarian work.

"I got a call from my local police department a couple of weeks ago. They asked about my job and to send photos of my passport. From their questions, it seemed they assumed I was somehow associated with illegal activities here."

Tower cited three main factors motivating the Chinese government's crackdown: The networks victimize Chinese citizens, are linked to large illicit outflows and their operations harm the country's reputation.

"It's creating a lot of national security threats on several levels," he said. "[Chinese President] Xi Jinping has really staked a lot of his legitimacy on the Party's ability to deal with crime, to deal with corruption and with these sorts of problems. The criminal networks operating in Southeast Asia are a source of major embarrassment."

Despite the growing attention, many online gambling networks have remained in Cambodia, said Li of the volunteer network of Chinese businessmen living in Cambodia.

"I don't think it's decreased, there are more nationalities involved now, not just Chinese," he said, adding that, after the ban, the groups became "more aggressive."

He says that the COVID-19 border restrictions has meant traffickers were changing their smuggling methods and increasingly using boats rather than overland routes.

In July, Cambodian authorities intercepted 36 Chinese nationals and two Cambodians who had entered the country illegally in a boat after traveling more than 2000 nautical miles from China's Fujian Province.

The pandemic has also made it tough for rescued victims to return to China, with the price of plane tickets, and the cost of following COVID-19 protocols, making the trip too expensive.

It has also exacerbated the economic distress that leads many to fall for the traffickers' job offers in the first place.

Economic desperation was what drove Mr. Zhang*, who had lost his job in a steel factory, to respond to an advertisement seeking security guards in Cambodia for $4,000 per month.

"I needed an income to support my family," he said, "so I decided to give it a go."

With around eight people in February, he was taken overland through Vietnam and into Cambodia, where he was held in a compound, given a cellphone and made to scam citizens in China on networking platforms such as Momo and Lvzhou.

He was eventually released in late June when his family paid a $5,000 ransom.

During his captivity, bosses forbid the trafficked workers from speaking to one another, but they would talk at night in their dorms. This, he said, is how he learned that at least one person would not make it out.

"During my stay there someone jumped off the building. I didn't see it myself, but everyone knew it, that guy died," he said. "I consider myself one of the lucky ones."

* Names have been changed to protect sources


User avatar
nemo
Expatriate
Posts: 2054
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2016 6:34 pm
Reputation: 1395
Cambodia

Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs

Post by nemo »

Dark allegations: Sinister claims made about ‘The China Project’ in Sihanoukville

Several people have reached out to Khmer Times after the release of four Filipino “victims” who say they were held captive at a complex in Preah Sihanouk province. They claim that dozens and possibly hundreds remain held against their will by an internationally organised crime syndicate.

The names, age and nationalities of former employees have been withheld for their protection. Upon their release, many were allegedly told that their safety would be in danger if they spoke out publicly.

It is not clear what the complex was designed for but employees said they received training as “con artists” and sources suggest it was also an illegal gambling operation paying $600 to $700 per month with illegal drugs as perks. Allegedly, the compound also houses sex workers. All newcomers had their passports taken away.

They said they want to share their story to get people currently working there out of the situation and prevent others falling for similar “scams”.

No one from the complex was available for comment.

News of the complex first reached public knowledge when Filipino victims were released from the 10-building complex in Otres Beach, Sihanoukvile and managed to get in touch with their partners.

The Philippine embassy in Phnom Penh declined to comment. Following the release of the four women, however, the embassy issued a public statement warning its citizens about applying for job adverts that appear to be too good to be true.

One “victim” revealed punishment for alleged poor performance by workers was common practice. “They were [kept] in a room without a toilet, kitchen or bed and beaten for not doing their job properly. Their punishment was based entirely on their work attitude and being incapable of performing. The girls did nothing to merit that treatment.”

Despite being threatened with his life, a victim said they were appealing to Khmer Times to bring knowledge of the complex – dubbed The China Project – for help because of fear for the well-being of those left behind.

The China Project is believed to be the name of the complex that housed the “captives” on Otres Beach.

One “victim” described the regular dormitories as just a room with a toilet, four metal bunk beds, a balcony and a washing machine. “I was confined to the room and wasn’t allowed to leave under any circumstances. They would walk around with batons and tasers to keep us in line,” he said.

Rooms sometimes housed so many victims that they would often have to share a single mattress on the bunk beds, according to some accounts.

Food was always Chinese cuisine and most often consisted of fried rice.

Those believed to have been left behind vary in age, with the oldest being in his late 30s.

The youngest is believed by former colleagues to be a 17-year-old Thai girl whom they say is “flirted with” and may be groomed to be a sex worker. “I think the odds are 100 percent. It’s a matter of time and money. She is strong but how long can she hold out?” one of several former workers at the complex said.

Thai, Bangladeshi, Indian, Russian, Ukrainian, Filipino, Vietnamese and Turkish nationals are believed to be still working at the complex.

Workers had minimal interaction with people who were not in the same dormitory as them, so it is difficult to piece together the whole picture.

Many victims spoke of two Eastern European women, Ukrainian and Russian nationals, believed to be paid salaries of up to $8,000 per month to service “employees” of the company.

“I know they were being used for their bodies because one time I asked where [the Russian woman] was and they said ‘She’s upstairs and will be back in an hour. She’s taking care of someone,” another former employee said.

The women are believed to have more freedom than others in the compound. They are allowed to leave the complex, go shopping, eat outside and one of them had a piano delivered to her apartment building.

It is also claimed minors are being employed to perform housekeeping.

Many of the workers said they answered a job advert on Facebook. Some said they had been referred by a friend.

Others noted they interacted with a Cambodian man who identified himself as “Sihnok” in Phnom Penh who provided details of the job to individuals. Attempts to communicate with him via WhatsApp were not successful.

They detailed similar accounts of being recruited in Phnom Penh before being taken to a Chinese-owned short-stay hotel overlooking a massage parlour near the airport.

Transportation, all said, was organised by a Chinese woman and Cambodian man. Some said they were led to believe the pair were married or at least in a romantic relationship.

Some alleged they stayed at the hotel overlooking what appeared to be a brothel for days while others did so for a brief period.

“I guess there were red flags at this point but I just went for it. The situation… it was a little bit of thrill-seeking mixed with need for money,” a worker who agreed to sign a six-month contract said.

He added that he had become close to a group of Bangladeshi nationals during this period.

He said that they had been staying in the hotel for at least three days before the group was ferried to the coastal province in a caravan of silver-coloured Hyundai Starex vans.

Several people must have been transported to the project on that trip alone, the person estimated.

Another trip saw Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans and Indians being transported.

“Young Chinese people are being trafficked as well. No one is doing it by choice. This is run by very powerful criminals, I cannot believe that someone has so much power in Cambodia,” one former worker said.

A Khmer Times reporter who visited the complex saw a large number of Hyundai vans on the street. Their drivers were seemingly given the ability to enter and exit the complex freely.

The China Project is comprised of 10, 12-storey, long buildings. Each floor had at least 18 balconies, meaning it could house as many as 2,160 individuals – perhaps more because many of the captives are kept in the same room.

Attempts by the newspaper to enter the complex were thwarted.

There are three entrances – each heavily guarded by men sporting emblems depicting Cambodian and Chinese flags side-by-side. They are entirely blocked off to those not familiar to guards.

Cambodian guards at the first gate ordered the reporter away. When he asked for a cigarette light, they simply handed him a lighter and told him to walk away.

Guards at the second gate stopped him before he could approach the entrance.

The reporter informed guards he was there to visit a friend at the third entrance. They asked him to call the friend to come down and collect him.

Food delivery personnel are not granted entrance to the complex. Deliveries are made outside the compound. One taxi waited outside with its trunk laid open, revealing it was loaded with dozens of identical blue bed sheets.

When Khmer Times asked what colour their bed sheets were, all former workers communicated with gave the same response – “blue” – suggesting that more people were being moved to the location.

Some said they had applied for the job out of financial hardship.

The Bangladeshis tended farms outside Phnom Penh, Indians largely worked in the hospitality sector while many others worked in education.

Many said they had applied for the job thinking that it was a customer service role for an online gambling business.

Instead, they said organisers lured unsuspecting men into investing in cryptocurrency and investment scams.

“We used Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, WhatsApp, every dating app you can imagine, to prey on people’s insecurities and their [lack of] knowledge of the market. We would pretend to be young women who lost their jobs during Covid and said that investing in this company had got them back on track,” a victim said.

“We played on emotions. We talked about Covid as a mechanism and said we lost our jobs, started making money through this site and told them they should start trading.”

The largest sum garnered from a victim was said to be $400,000. The employee who lured the investor online was said to have received sexual favours from the Russian sex worker as a reward.

Top performers were also offered their choice of alcohol or drugs as a bonus, including ecstasy, amphetamine, cannabis and cocaine.

“They were like employee perks,” the victim said. “At the end of each day they would announce who did what. One Turkish guy has been there for at least one year and they’re not going to let him go because his performance has been so poor.”

New staff said they had received employee training upon arrival at the complex. They were given handbooks and tutorials on how to create fake social media accounts and life stories to lure men.

It is believed the Russian and Ukrainian women consented to using their photographs online to lure the men.

Both women are believed to be in their early 20s and one former worker confirmed the Ukrainian national was 22.

They were also held on standby in case people online asked for a video chat. One ex-worker said the girls would never expose themselves to people because it would “take away incentive” but were forced to watch men pleasure themselves.

Sources familiar with the matter who have entered the complex stressed under the condition of anonymity that parts of the complex are dedicated to online gambling.

Sources say local authorities may be complicit in the trafficking: A local police station sits just metres away from the complex.

They said that they believe the managers of the complex, who hail from various parts of the Chinese mainland, are low on the totem pole and may have been lured to the site under similar pretences by an overarching figure.

Accounts of various experiences led to an understanding that each of the buildings has at least 100 managers in them.

Upon arrival in Otres Beach, the employees were given a brief interview by a young Chinese woman.

They tested individuals on their language ability, asked about their backgrounds and confiscated their passports.

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) Coronavirus test was conducted outside the complex and they were taken to Ming Guan Hotel awaiting the results.

They wondered if the hotel was complicit or aware of the activities in the complex. Often, the workers were the only ones staying there. The casino area had been shut down, according to former workers.

Some cited being handed bills of more than $1,500 after quarantine but they did not have to pay out of their own pockets. They were informed it was company policy to pay the quarantine fee.

An individual who still has connections to those inside the compound said salaries were paid on the 15th in line with the contracts.

Former workers said this was “the best part” of their stay. The agents who transported the captives to Sihanoukville are believed to be involved with many other organisations, with The China Project just being another client they service.

After results of the PCR tests were received, the victims returned to the complex, where a rapid test was conducted.

After passports were confiscated, contracts were signed, photographs were taken for corporate records and new staff were shown to their quarters. All said they received a package containing a toothbrush, toothpaste, laundry detergent, shampoo and body wash.

Accounts of experiences depict everything from forced labour, to sexual advances, physical violence and private threats. Personal mobile phones were allowed to be stowed in lockers during working hours from 4.30 am to 6.30 pm.

iPhone 7s were provided to conduct the alleged “scams”.

Many staff turned to their private phones during off hours to appeal for help. Upon their release their phones were immediately wiped. Some said they deleted photographs and messages prior to their release voluntarily.

Now, they are appealing to the public and authorities to put an end to The China Project.

“Anyone who ends up there is in danger – the longer they stay inside the worse it gets,” they said.

The China Project was unavailable for comment

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50922253/d ... noukville/
The Judge
BANNED
Posts: 280
Joined: Sun May 23, 2021 9:15 am
Reputation: 96
Cambodia

Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs

Post by The Judge »

Blatant disregard for the law, like this, posted less than a week ago??

Image
User avatar
Ghostwriter
Expatriate
Posts: 3096
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2019 2:01 am
Reputation: 1998
France

Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs

Post by Ghostwriter »

Sihanoukville, from Las Vegas to the Tijuana of South East asia ?
Pseudonomdeplume
Expatriate
Posts: 1521
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2020 3:31 pm
Reputation: 505
Contact:
Cambodia

Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs

Post by Pseudonomdeplume »

So many crooks in the world, it's a shame they can't recruit like, instead of innocents getting on the hook (which is what their website name refers to) to target other innocent marks. I have never thought of Cambodia as dangerous, at any hour - less so than most Western countries - for violence. It might soon be time to check what neighbourhood you're in. Send in the Yakuza. Or Chuck Norris.
Scent from Dan's Durians & Perfumierie
User avatar
AndyKK
Expatriate
Posts: 6448
Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2017 7:32 am
Reputation: 2248
Great Britain

Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs

Post by AndyKK »

Quote - "It's creating a lot of national security threats on several levels," he said. "[Chinese President] Xi Jinping has really staked a lot of his legitimacy on the Party's ability to deal with crime, to deal with corruption and with these sorts of problems. The criminal networks operating in Southeast Asia are a source of major embarrassment."

It maybe of some major embarrassment for the Chinese President and the ruling political party, but in all fairness they are not doing a lot to curb the crime committed by that of their own citizens. Also they don't seem to be protecting, again mostly the victims being their own people of this type of ongoing crime.
There are many concerns in the above article, trafficking, people crossing land and now sea borders without adding that (hearsay) officials are paid off. But firstly the borders are closed because of a world pandemic, to protect the people of Cambodia from being infected by Covid19. Also it seems many don't have legal documentation. The people or victim's are lured by lies for work that is not true, and they are possibly going to be held to ransom or worse.
It also seems that the good work of Chinese business people (not the police of China and Cambodia) are one of the only safety nets for the people whom have been lured into a dark world of crimes by their prospective criminal bosses.
Always "hope" but never "expect".
User avatar
nemo
Expatriate
Posts: 2054
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2016 6:34 pm
Reputation: 1395
Cambodia

Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs

Post by nemo »

Ongoing investigations by Khmer Times have revealed that approximately 25,000 people are in bonded captivity and one-third of them are housed in The China Project in Sihanoukville .

At its peak, the 10-building complex held some 12,000 people and, depending on the season, between 8,000 to 10,000 people are believed to be working there.

“In the last four months there have been lots of suicides,” said a former vendor who sold goods in front of the compound. “The last one was in August… If an ambulance doesn’t go inside at least twice a week, it is a wonder.”

The individual who committed suicide last month is believed to be a Chinese man.

Corpses are said to be transported in a vehicle to a nearby junction where they are transferred to a van. Forensics or post-mortem examinations are reportedly not conducted.

Businesses are allowed to set up shop free in front of the complex in front of a construction site.

They are ordered to turn a blind eye to the activities inside The China Project by private security guards.

The massive, multi-storey constructions site is believed to be an extension of the compound – it sits in the heart of an area that locals refer to as “China Town”.

Questioning the activities inside the complex, speaking about strange incidences or bringing attention to the alleged crimes being committed result in vendors losing their stalls.

A former vendor said she recalled seeing a young girl of Asian descent at the gate frequently. Noting her beauty, youth and long hair, she said the girl would buy fruits or snacks from the stalls across the street.

The girl, as with other ‘occupants’ of the China Project compound was never allowed to approach the vendors directly.

Instead, she would tell guards what she wanted. They would buy them and deliver them to the gate.

“She looked like a perfect doll until one time I saw her she had a blackeye and her arm was in a cast. I don’t know what happened to her. I have never seen her again,” the vendor said.

She claimed sometimes she could hear people screaming in agony at night.

Authorities are allegedly fully aware of the activities occurring inside the complex but appear reluctant to act.

Brigadier General Yi Chon, deputy police commissioner in Sihanoukville, agreed to meet Khmer Times to discuss the issue.

Khmer Times journalists posed questions but he declined to immediately respond.

Questions remained unanswered as of going to press.

A police station sits metres away from The China Project.

On Saturday afternoon, three Ministry of Health Workers donning full personal protective equipment normally used in Coronavirus cases were seen entering the site.

The vendor said that during the peak of the pandemic, perhaps April or May, an entire block was locked down.
Ambulances were seen entering the site but no patient is believed to have been treated outside the complex.

Coaches filled with people were seen entering the complex over a two-day period.

Most of the people inside the complex are believed to be of Chinese origin.

Most have joined of their own volition out of financial desperation.

Some Malaysians were tricked into joining by answering job adverts that reportedly promised between $1,000 and $1,500 a month.

At least 12 similar large-scale operations exist in the province.

A smaller gated community with dozens of two-storey villas near Ream Naval Base is known to be a hotspot for online scams.

At least one individual is believed to have committed suicide there.

Unsubstantiated rumours say operators are alleged to have murdered employees for not performing their jobs adequately or skimming from the top of earnings.

They reportedly wait until tides are low and leave corpses on the beach to be washed away.

The three largest are The China Project in O’tres Beach II, Victory Paradise in Phum II district and a multi-building complex in a narrow alley, also in Phnum II.

The latter lies hidden at the end of a dirt road. Only one car is able to drive down the narrow lane. A second entrance to the rear is blocked off by construction.

It is heavily guarded with multiple private security guards. Three security cameras are on top of a single pole in front of its entrance.

Sources said it is being disguised as a quarantine centre and run by a tycoon.

It is believed to be holding a number of Chinese and Thai nationals.

Locals said a physical and online casino lay behind the gate.

Upon seeing Khmer Times staff lurking outside the premises, the gate was suddenly flung open.

A woman, accompanied by a Chinese man, vigorously pointed at journalists as a rider leapt onto a scooter in pursuit.

At least 30 individuals are believed to have been released from the compound after it received media attention. Some, mostly believed to be Bangladeshis, were sold to other businesses.

Five former Filipino The China Project employees were reportedly among the passengers repatriated to Cebu last week.

Some said they had applied for jobs at call centres, a growing industry in the Philippines, because they knew how to do the job already.

The embassy of the Phillippines in Phnom Penh warned Filipinos to be “extra wary of accepting job offers posted online and in various social media platforms or chat groups [that] offer high paying jobs in dubious, unnamed companies”.

The embassy said: “A number of our Filipino nationals have already fallen victim to these nefarious schemes where they are led to believe they will receive huge salaries and monthly bonuses, in addition to receiving free training and – if they are coming from abroad – free quarantine and accommodations – only to experience otherwise once they have accepted the job offer.

“The Philippine embassy has received reports that a number of these Filipino have been forced to accept onerous employment terms and conditions in these unnamed companies, or they have no employment contracts – or, if there is one, it is in a language they do not understand.

“The Philippine embassy has also received reports that these Filipinos are being forced to work as ‘scam agents’ in these unnamed companies, where they are forced to lure unwitting online victims to invest in these spurious investment schemes. The Philippine embassy has been working closely with Cambodian authorities in assisting Filipino nationals who have been victimised by these unnamed companies.”

Chinese nationals are the most victimised.

Thais, Malaysians, Singaporeans, Vietnamese, South Africans, Russians, Ukrainians, Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Nigerians are also preyed upon.

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50929672/s ... a-project/
User avatar
CEOCambodiaNews
Expatriate
Posts: 62322
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 5:13 am
Reputation: 4033
Location: CEO Newsroom in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Contact:
Cambodia

Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

The KT's investigation into the China Project continues. Long read:

September 10, 2021
Bloody but unbowed: The China Project ploughs on despite public scrutiny of highly disturbing claims of criminality
Husain Haider / Khmer Times

The China Project’s foundation remains solid despite cracks beginning to form as nefarious organisations spread their tentacles as a consequence of exclusive investigations by Khmer Times on sinister allegations of malfeasance.

Multiple sources reached out to this newspaper to report instances of abuse at the hands of enforcers at the location believed to be housing at least 8,000 people – most of whom are Chinese nationals.

Each had varying experiences working for companies located at the 10-building complex.

They claimed to have been taken hostage, beaten, starved, isolated, extorted, sexually abused, trafficked and stripped of their basic human dignity.

The victims are alleged to have been forced to scam individuals by creating fraudulent social media and dating application profiles. Often, they responded to fraudulent online job postings and sometimes end up enticing others to join.

They said they lived under the threat of harassment and were rewarded for converting social media interactions into WhatsApp or WeChat contacts and for convincing people to invest in various scams involving cryptocurrencies and stocks.

Up to $400,000 is said to have been garnered from one unwitting individual.

The spouse of one victim described an incident when a busload of people illegally crossed the border from Vietnam and now they are in captivity.

If true, this suggests the organisations are complicit in trans-national human trafficking.
Continued here: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50932552/b ... iminality/
Join the Cambodia Expats Online Telegram Channel: https://t.me/CambodiaExpatsOnline

Cambodia Expats Online: Bringing you breaking news from Cambodia before you read it anywhere else!

Have a story or an anonymous news tip for CEO? Need advertising? CONTACT US

Cambodia Expats Online is the most popular community in the country. JOIN TODAY

Follow CEO on social media:

Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Instagram
User avatar
nemo
Expatriate
Posts: 2054
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2016 6:34 pm
Reputation: 1395
Cambodia

Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs

Post by nemo »

Worth reading the entire article linked above
Some victims have raised unsubstantiated allegations of organ harvesting.

It is believed that up to 10,000 people are working in The China Project.
An individual from the Asian subcontinent shared with Khmer Times from inside the compound that he has been held against his will for almost two months.

He said he has been sold to three different organisations in the province and fears that he will soon be sent to a fourth next week.
User avatar
CEOCambodiaNews
Expatriate
Posts: 62322
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 5:13 am
Reputation: 4033
Location: CEO Newsroom in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Contact:
Cambodia

Re: Cyber slavery: inside Cambodia's online scam gangs

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

The CHINA PROJECT story is making the rounds in the international media. But will that be enough to convince the Cambodian authorities to finally put a stop to the Chinese online slave gangs who have been operating with impunity in Sihanoukville for many years now ?

09/10/2021, 15.31
CAMBODIA
Modern slaves exploited by Chinese bosses in Sihanoukville for online scams

The coastal city has received a lot of Chinese investment in recent years. Inside the China Project compound, at least 8,000 people are held prisoner, trained to commit Internet fraud. A Khmer Times investigation found that criminals are moving their activities to other parts of the country.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Modern-s ... 54031.html
Join the Cambodia Expats Online Telegram Channel: https://t.me/CambodiaExpatsOnline

Cambodia Expats Online: Bringing you breaking news from Cambodia before you read it anywhere else!

Have a story or an anonymous news tip for CEO? Need advertising? CONTACT US

Cambodia Expats Online is the most popular community in the country. JOIN TODAY

Follow CEO on social media:

Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Instagram
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Majestic-12 [Bot] and 912 guests