Types of scams victims are forced to carry out:

  • Romance scams: Victims pose as attractive men or women, building fake online relationships with unsuspecting targets. Once trust is gained, they begin requesting money for fake emergencies or fabricated personal crises.

  • Investment fraud: Posing as financial advisors, they lure people into bogus schemes involving cryptocurrencies, stocks, or fake startups, only for victims’ funds to vanish into criminal networks.

  • Fake online casinos: Victims are made to operate sham gambling platforms, where users are tricked into depositing money into rigged systems that offer no chance of return.

These operations are not only illegal but also brutally enforced. Victims who fail to perform are subjected to horrific acts of violence and abuse.

Torture as punishment for missed targets

The UN report details chilling accounts of torture inflicted on those who do not meet their financial quotas:

  • Beatings with baseball bats and blunt instruments

  • Electric shocks

  • Solitary confinement in pitch-dark rooms for days

  • Forced to watch others being tortured as a warning

  • Sexual violence, particularly targeting women

Some victims have died from injuries sustained during beatings or from untreated illnesses due to a lack of medical care.

A debt trap with no escape

What keeps victims trapped is a system of never-ending debt. Traffickers claim that the cost of recruitment, travel, accommodation, and food is all “debts” that must be repaid through work.

However, these debts are designed to be impossible to clear. Daily interest, penalties for disobedience, electricity and food charges all accumulate endlessly. Even if a victim earns substantial sums through scam operations, their debt often increases faster than they can repay it.

Worse still, victims are sometimes “sold” to other scam compounds—treated like property. With each transfer, their debt is reset or increased, perpetuating the cycle.

In some cases, if family members try to contact or help the victim, the syndicates respond with ransom demands, often accompanied by graphic photos of the victim being tortured. Some families have gone so far as to sell their land or homes in desperation, only to never see their loved ones return.

Cambodia: From tourist paradise to trafficking epicentre

Once seen as a tranquil and culturally rich tourist destination, Cambodia has now become ground zero for Southeast Asia’s most disturbing human trafficking operations, according to United Nations experts. The shift began in earnest after 2021, when international crackdowns forced scam syndicates in Myanmar to relocate across the border.

The UN report identifies at least 17 scam compounds operating across Cambodia, including in Sihanoukville, Pailin, Anlong Veng, O’Smach, Phnom Penh, Kandal, Pursat, Koh Kong, Bavet, Chrey Thom, Kampot, Preah Sihanouk, Oddar Meanchey, Poipet, Svay Rieng, Banteay Meanchey, and in special economic zones such as Dara Sakor and Thmorda.

A billion-dollar criminal industry

What’s most alarming is the scale. This is not a disorganised backstreet operation—it is a multi-billion-baht criminal industry with high-rise compounds, armed guards, and corporate-like management systems. These scam centres rake in profits from victims around the globe and use the proceeds to bribe government officials, politicians, and local powerbrokers, ensuring continued protection and impunity.

Escaping doesn’t guarantee freedom.

Even those who manage to escape—or are rescued—face fresh injustice. Survivors are often treated as criminals, not victims. Many are arrested or prosecuted for crimes such as money laundering, fraud, or illegal entry, despite having been trafficked.

Some are forced to pay heavy fines or wear electronic monitoring bracelets. 

The existence of employment contracts or payments received during captivity creates confusion among authorities about whether these individuals were truly trafficked.

Lack of protection and institutional support

The lack of adequate consular and embassy support is another serious concern. Victims, especially male victims, often find no shelters available and minimal institutional assistance. Repatriation is slow—many are detained for weeks or months in immigration holding centres before they can return home.

Corruption and media suppression

The UN warns that the endemic corruption protecting these networks runs deep. Officials at all levels—from police and military officers to politicians and business elites—are reportedly complicit.

At the same time, media coverage is heavily suppressed. Journalists, activists, and human rights defenders who attempt to expose the operations face threats, intimidation, or legal retaliation. 

Meanwhile, the rise of digital finance, cryptocurrency, and underground banking systems has made money laundering and cross-border fund transfers seamless, fuelling the growth of this dark economy.

UN poses 15 urgent questions to Cambodia, demands regional action on trafficking crisis.

As part of its urgent appeal, the United Nations has issued 15 pointed questions to the Cambodian government, demanding clarity and accountability over the country’s role in enabling a transnational human trafficking network that enslaves victims in online scam centres.

The questions, posed by three UN Special Rapporteurs, cover a range of critical issues—from acknowledging the problem to protecting victims and dismantling criminal networks. In summary, the UN has asked:

  • Does the Cambodian government acknowledge the problem, and what steps will it take?

  • How will it investigate and ensure adequate protection for victims?

  • Why haven’t scam compounds been shut down, and how does it plan to close them?

  • What measures are in place to assist women and children in a gender- and age-sensitive way?

  • How will the repatriation of foreign victims be handled to ensure safety and consent?

  • How will victims be spared from punishment, recognising they were coerced?

  • What legal tools are being used to prosecute offenders, and are they effective?

  • How will foreign victims be allowed to contact their embassies?

  • Will compensation be provided to victims who were harmed and exploited?

  • How will media and NGOs be protected so they can report and operate freely?

Five additional questions were directed at Cambodia’s efforts to combat corruption, protect whistleblowers, and cooperate with neighbouring states in tackling the crisis at a regional level.

UN sends alerts to 8 countries, warns of regional emergency

In a bold move, the UN also sent similar letters to Myanmar’s military leadership, ASEAN, China, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, emphasising that this is no longer a localised issue but a regional humanitarian emergency demanding multilateral cooperation.

The clock is ticking: UN to go public in 60 days.

The Special Rapporteurs announced that if no response is received within 60 days, they will publicly release all details of the investigation. “The world has a right to know the truth,” the letter states.

While awaiting official replies, the UN urges the Cambodian government to immediately enact emergency measures to halt ongoing human rights violations and prevent future abuses.

A warning to job seekers—and hope for the missing.

The UN also issued a stark warning to those searching for better opportunities online: not every job offer is what it seems. Social media platforms are increasingly used as bait by trafficking syndicates to lure victims into forced labour under the guise of high-paying, low-skill jobs.

For families searching for missing loved ones abroad, the message is one of hope: help is available. International organisations, NGOs, and embassies stand ready to assist.

“In today’s world, no one should be forced into slavery—under any circumstance,” the UN experts concluded.

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