"Under foreign pressure, Cambodia dismantles some 'scam' compounds", 13 October 2022

Cambodian authorities have clamped down on some global cyber gangs … by raiding their compounds and freeing more than a thousand of enslaved workers, but human rights groups say those criminal organizations have simply moved their operations to other areas.

"It's decentralizing criminality so it can be sustained," said a human rights investigator who did not want to be named…

According to those victims, the groups, largely run by Chinese nationals, enslave workers from China and other countries in the region, luring or smuggling them to Cambodia with promises of well-paid employment.

On arrival, victims are held captive, told they owe large debts and, under threat of violence and torture, forced to perpetrate online scams. These include romance scams or fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes that target people around the globe and are estimated to net hundreds of millions of dollars, …

For months, Cambodian authorities have dismissed the increasing number of media reports on the human trafficking crisis, …

However, international pressure has steadily built, including a decision by the U.S. to downgrade Cambodia's status in its annual "Trafficking in Persons" report. On a recent trip to the coastal city of Sihanoukville, where many of the scam operations are located, the U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy said more needed to be done…

Vitit Muntarbhorn, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, also spoke out against the illicit online scam industry in August, saying victims experienced a "living hell" often resulting in "torture and even death."…