South Korean authorities announced Wednesday a concerted effort to rescue their citizens from Cambodia, a nation where hundreds have vanished into vast online scam operations responsible for defrauding victims globally of billions.
Public indignation in South Korea has surged following reports this year of 330 individuals, including a young university student who was later found deceased, going missing after traveling to Cambodia. Officials confirm that many of these victims faced brutal torture and confinement at the hands of the scam operators.
These individuals were initially enticed by promises of lucrative employment, only to discover they were coerced into participating in elaborate fraud schemes targeting fellow South Koreans, according to official statements.
While many of the initially reported missing persons have been located, 79 South Koreans remain unaccounted for in Cambodia, stated Wi Sung-lac, South Korea’s national security director, during a press conference on Wednesday. He also confirmed the government’s plans to repatriate approximately 60 individuals currently held by Cambodian authorities.
South Korea is now the most recent nation to take a stand against Cambodia’s burgeoning scam industry.
Earlier this year, China spearheaded a significant operation against scam compounds operating in both Myanmar and Cambodia. Following suit, the United States and Britain recently enacted sanctions targeting segments of the Cambodian conglomerate, Prince Group, alleging its involvement in global scam networks. American federal prosecutors have since indicted the group’s chairman, Chen Zhi, and confiscated $15 billion in cryptocurrency, believed to be profits from his extensive fraud and money laundering activities.
As a preventative measure, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry announced that as of Thursday, its citizens would be prohibited from traveling to specific regions of Cambodia known for widespread scam operations and illegal human confinement.
Certain Southeast Asian nations, including Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, have unfortunately become epicenters for sophisticated online fraud schemes. Last year alone, scammers operating from this region swindled American victims out of at least $10 billion, as reported by the Treasury Department. A 2023 report from the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime indicated that South Korean citizens lost approximately $148 million to these fraudsters.
These criminal organizations exploit the permeable borders of Southeast Asian countries, luring individuals with deceptive job advertisements. Victims, primarily from China, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Africa, are then forced into scam compounds to conduct fraud in their native languages. Disturbingly, some South Koreans also fall prey to these enticing, yet false, promises of high-paying work.
An estimated 200,000 individuals from diverse nationalities are entangled in Cambodia’s vast scam industry, according to Mr. Wi, who noted that approximately 1,000 of them are believed to be South Korean.
Advertisements, observed by The New York Times on various online job boards and the messaging app Telegram, targeted South Koreans with offers of weekly payments starting at 5 million won (roughly $3,500) – an amount significantly higher than the average monthly income in South Korea.
Jeremy Douglas, chief of staff and strategy at the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime, explained that South Korean organized crime groups also operate scam centers in Cambodia, though on a smaller scale compared to the massive Chinese-owned compounds. He added that smaller, independent rings run by young Koreans in their twenties and thirties are also active in the country.
Mr. Wi acknowledged that some South Koreans knowingly traveled to Cambodia to engage in illicit activities, with a number even returning after a brief period at home. He affirmed that the South Korean government is committed to deterring individuals from seeking such high-risk, high-reward opportunities in Cambodia.
During a public hearing on Monday, South Korean lawmaker Park Chan-dae revealed the horrific mistreatment suffered by some kidnapped victims.
“Victims were reportedly drugged, sexually assaulted, and even subjected to medical examinations for potential organ trafficking,” Park stated, emphasizing the constant peril they faced. Their eventual rescue and repatriation were made possible through daring escapes or by contacting their families via Telegram.
Lee Jeong-sook, president of the Korean Rescue Organization, a non-profit dedicated to rescuing South Koreans from Cambodia, detailed the brutal tactics employed by these crime syndicates. During a Wednesday press conference, she explained that those who refused to cooperate were confined, beaten, tortured, and had their families extorted for ransom.
The Cambodian government confirmed on Tuesday that Park Minho, the 22-year-old university student, died from a heart attack attributed to ‘severe torture.’ His body was discovered in August inside a Ford pickup truck, and he had been residing in a building subsequently identified by authorities as a base for scam operations.
In connection with Mr. Park’s death and the scam operations, three Chinese nationals and two other individuals have been charged. The Cambodian government further stated its ongoing collaboration with South Korean officials to apprehend additional accomplices.
Following its February crackdown, China successfully repatriated hundreds of individuals liberated from scam centers in Myanmar. These victims had been coerced by Chinese criminals into various fraudulent schemes, including investment and cryptocurrency scams, as well as online dating cons.
While Chinese syndicates remain dominant in the scam industry, Mr. Douglas noted that the recent reduction in their activity created an opening for Japanese and Korean criminal networks already established in the region to expand their operations.
“The Chinese crackdown undoubtedly provided an opportunity for other criminal groups and contributed to the diversification of the scam industry, though this trend was already underway,” he concluded.