BBC News
27/6/2025
“I WAS SOMEONE ELSE’S PROPERTY”
Slavery, human trafficking and torture in Cambodia’s Scamming Compounds
© Amnesty International, 2024.
26 June 2025
Nguồn hình ảnh, Reuters
Chụp lại hình ảnh, Louis, 18 tuổi, người Thái Lan, bị lừa sang Campuchia để lao động và đã trốn thoát vào năm ngoái. Ảnh chụp ngày 26/5/2025
4 giờ trước
Bị lừa sang Campuchia, bị tra tấn và buộc phải lừa đảo người lạ qua mạng, một thanh niên Thái Lan cho biết mình suýt mất mạng sau khi tự lao mình từ cửa sổ tầng tám xuống đất vào hồi năm ngoái, theo Reuters.
Hành động đó là một nỗ lực tuyệt vọng nhằm trốn khỏi một trong những trại lừa đảo không khác gì nhà tù ở quốc gia Đông Nam Á này.
Thanh niên 18 tuổi này, yêu cầu chỉ được gọi bằng biệt danh Louis, nói với hãng tin Reuters rằng anh đã phải chịu đựng điều kiện sống tàn bạo khoảng một năm, cùng với những thiếu niên chỉ mới 13 tuổi, trong một tổ chức do những kẻ tội phạm Trung Quốc điều hành.
"Những người lao động bị buôn bán phải sống như 'nô lệ'," anh kể, nói rằng họ bị buộc phải làm việc từ sáng sớm đến nửa đêm trong các tòa nhà bao quanh là tường cao và dây thép gai, và ở đó họ bị những người đàn ông cầm dùi cui điện canh gác và trừng phạt dã man.
Ngành lừa đảo xuyên quốc gia này đã nổi lên ở Đông Nam Á trong thời kỳ đại dịch Covid-19 và được cho là mang lại hàng tỷ đô la Mỹ mỗi năm cho các băng nhóm tội phạm có tổ chức, khi
Louis đã trò chuyện với hãng tin Reuters tại thủ đô Bangkok của Thái Lan, một ngày trước khi tổ chức nhân quyền có trụ sở tại London là Ân xá Quốc tế công bố một báo cáo vào hôm thứ Năm (26/6), cáo buộc chính phủ Campuchia "cố tình làm ngơ" trước các hành vi vi phạm nhân quyền của các băng nhóm tội phạm trên mạng - một cáo buộc mà chính phủ Campuchia đã bác bỏ, cho rằng báo cáo này "phóng đại".
Reuters không thể tự xác minh lời kể của Louis một cách độc lập, nhưng các tình tiết này phù hợp với những lời kể khác từ các nạn nhân sống sót sau nạn buôn người, được nhiều tổ chức, trong đó cả các cơ quan của Liên Hợp Quốc, công bố.
Dù từ chối tiết lộ đầy đủ họ tên, Louis vẫn đồng ý trả lời phỏng vấn của Reuters TV.
Công việc lương cao
Là một thanh niên có giọng nói nhẹ nhàng, Louis kể rằng khi mới 17 tuổi, sau khi đăng một status tìm việc, anh được một người phụ nữ liên lạc qua Facebook, đề nghị một công việc được trả lương cao, bao ăn ở.
Người phụ nữ này đã thuyết phục anh đến Bangkok – lần đầu tiên anh rời khỏi quê hương nghèo khó – nhưng sau đó lại được yêu cầu đến một nơi ở biên giới, và ở đó anh bị đưa tới một trong ít nhất 53 khu tổ hợp lừa đảo ở Campuchia được tổ chức Ân xá Quốc tế xác định.
Louis bị buộc phải sử dụng phần mềm tạo video deepfake (video giả mạo bằng trí tuệ nhân tạo - AI) để lừa phụ nữ Thái Lan gửi tiền.
Anh kể rằng mình "cảm thấy bị ép buộc", và sau một tuần, anh bị bán sang một khu tổ hợp khác gần biên giới Việt Nam, một nơi trông giống như "nhà tù".
Trốn thoát
Trong một căn phòng có tám người Thái Lan, cả nam lẫn nữ, Louis kể rằng họ bị yêu cầu phải lừa được ít nhất một triệu baht mỗi tháng (khoảng 30.000 đô la Mỹ) và bị chích điện bằng dùi cui nếu làm chậm, nghỉ ngơi quá nhiều hoặc không đạt chỉ tiêu.
Louis nói rằng anh quyết định trốn sau khi bị nhốt trong một căn phòng tối. Anh phá cửa sổ và nhảy xuống từ tầng cao.
Cú nhảy khiến cằm anh bị dập nát.
"Miệng tôi đầy máu, máu ở khắp nơi, còn răng thì gãy. Rồi tôi ngất đi," anh kể.
Những kẻ cầm đầu đã lột hết quần áo của anh, nhưng vẫn đưa anh đến bệnh viện. Từ đó, anh tìm cách trở về nhà.
Louis nói anh muốn nhắn nhủ với những người Thái Lan đang tìm việc là đừng nên sang Campuchia.
"Vì sự an toàn của chính bạn… Bạn có thể sẽ không bao giờ trở về nhà được nữa."
https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/articles/cgrxgnexenjo
“I WAS SOMEONE ELSE’S PROPERTY”
Slavery, human trafficking and torture in Cambodia’s
Scamming Compounds
© Amnesty International, 2024.
26 June 2025
Cambodia: Government allows slavery and torture to flourish inside hellish scamming compounds
Amnesty visits more than 50 scamming compounds in 18-month long research
Testimony from survivors details human trafficking, slavery and forced labour affecting thousands
Findings point towards state complicity in abuses carried out by Chinese criminal gangs
The Cambodian government is deliberately ignoring a litany of human rights abuses including slavery, human trafficking, child labour and torture being carried out by criminal gangs on a vast scale in more than 50 scamming compounds located across the country, Amnesty International said in a new report published today.
Survivors interviewed for the report, “I Was Someone Else’s Property”, believed they were applying for genuine jobs but were instead trafficked to Cambodia, where they were held in prison-like compounds and forced to conduct online scams in a billion-dollar shadow economy defrauding people around the world.
Jobseekers from Asia and beyond are lured by the promise of well-paid work into hellish labour camps run by well-organized gangs, where they are forced to scam under the very real threat of violence.
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General
“Deceived, trafficked and enslaved, the survivors of these scamming compounds describe being trapped in a living nightmare – enlisted in criminal enterprises that are operating with the apparent consent of the Cambodian government,” Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said.
“Jobseekers from Asia and beyond are lured by the promise of well-paid work into hellish labour camps run by well-organized gangs, where they are forced to scam under the very real threat of violence.
“Amnesty’s research reveals the horrifying magnitude of a crisis the Cambodian authorities are not doing enough to stop. Their failures have emboldened a criminal network whose tentacles extend internationally, with millions of people impacted by the scams.”
Amnesty’s findings suggest there has been coordination and possibly collusion between Chinese compound bosses and the Cambodian police, who have failed to shut down compounds despite the slew of human rights abuses taking place inside.
‘High salary and swimming pool’
In the most comprehensive documentation yet of the issue, Amnesty’s 240-page report identified at least 53 scamming compounds in Cambodia and interviewed 58 survivors of eight different nationalities, including nine children. Amnesty also reviewed the records of 336 other victims of Cambodian compounds. Those interviewed had either escaped from compounds, been rescued or had a ransom paid by their families.
The interviewees’ testimony gives a detailed insight into a sprawling, violent criminal operation that is taking place often with the full knowledge of the Cambodian authorities, whose woefully ineffective – and at times corrupt – response to the scamming crisis demonstrates its acquiescence and points towards state complicity in the human rights abuses taking place.
They told me that if I don’t stop screaming, they’re going to keep hitting [me] until I stop.
*Lisa, who was trafficked at the age of 18 and forced to work on scams
One survivor, *Lisa, who was 18 and looking for work during a break from school in Thailand when she was trafficked, said: “[The recruiters] said I would work in administration… they sent pictures of a hotel with a swimming pool… the salary was high.”
Instead, Lisa was taken across a river at night into Cambodia, where she spent 11 months held against her will by armed security guards and forced to work on scams. When she tried to escape, she was severely beaten.
“There were four men… three of them held me down while the boss hit me on the soles of my feet with a metal pole… They told me that if I don’t stop screaming, they’re going to keep hitting [me] until I stop,” she said.
Map showing the 53 scamming compounds documented by Amnesty International.
‘They kept beating [them] until their body was purple’
As part of its 18-month long research, Amnesty International visited all but one of the 53 scamming compounds located in 16 towns and cities across Cambodia, as well as 45 similar sites also strongly suspected to be scamming compounds. Many of the buildings were formerly casinos and hotels repurposed by criminal gangs – mostly from China – after Cambodia banned online gambling in 2019.
Compounds appeared designed to keep people inside, with features such as surveillance cameras, barbed wire around perimeter walls and large numbers of security personnel, often carrying electric shock batons and in some cases firearms. Survivors reported that “escape was impossible”.
Most victims had been lured to Cambodia by deceptive job advertisements posted on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram. After being trafficked, survivors said they were forced to contact people using social media platforms and begin conversations aimed at defrauding them. These included fake romances or investment opportunities, selling products that would never be delivered, or building trust with victims before financially exploiting them – known as “pig-butchering”.
All but one of the survivors interviewed were victims of human trafficking, while everyone had been subjected to forced labour under the threat of violence. In 32 cases, Amnesty International concluded the survivors were victims of slavery as defined under international law, with compound managers exerting a level of control over them that amounted to de facto ownership. Survivors also reported being sold into compounds or witnessing the sale of other people. Many others were told they owed a debt to the compound which they had to work to repay.
Forty of the 58 survivors interviewed had suffered torture or other ill-treatment – almost always carried out by compound managers. Some compounds had specific rooms – often known as “dark rooms” – which were designated places for torture of people who did not or could not work or meet work targets, or who contacted the authorities.
Survivors frequently mentioned deaths inside the compounds or nearby; one survivor described hearing a body hitting the roof of a building. Amnesty International also confirmed the death of a Chinese child inside a compound.
Survivor *Siti described seeing a Vietnamese person beaten by compound bosses for around 25 minutes. He said: “They just keep beating [the Vietnamese person] until their body was…purple…then [using] the electric baton. Beat the Vietnamese until he can’t scream, can’t get up…then the boss tell me that they wait until another compound want to buy him.”
Of the nine children interviewed, five were subjected to torture or other ill-treatment. *Sawat, a 17-year-old Thai boy, was beaten by several managers before being told he would be stripped and forced to jump off the building.
PSP01: compound with suspected guard posts – highlighted with yellow circles – at strategic locations within the perimeter wall.
Cambodian government’s glaring failures
Amnesty International’s report found that the Cambodian government has failed to adequately investigate widespread human rights abuses at scamming compounds despite being repeatedly made aware of them.
“The Cambodian authorities know what is going on inside scamming compounds, yet they allow it to continue. Our findings reveal a pattern of state failures that have allowed criminality to flourish and raises questions about the government’s motivations,” Amnesty International’s Regional Research Director Montse Ferrer said.
The government has claimed to be addressing the scamming crisis through its National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking (NCCT) and a number of ministerial task forces, which have overseen a series of police “rescues” of victims from compounds. However, more than two thirds of the scamming compounds identified in the report continued to operate even after police raids and “rescues”. At one compound in Botum Sakor, human trafficking has been widely reported by media and police have intervened multiple times to rescue victims, yet the site remains open.
Police failings stem from their collaboration or coordination with compound bosses. For example, in many of the “rescues”, instead of entering the compounds and investigating, police would simply meet a manager or security guard at the gate, where they would be handed the individual(s) who had called in for help. Business then continued as usual.
In other instances, several survivors said they were punished with beatings after their secretive efforts to contact police for help were somehow uncovered by bosses. One Vietnamese survivor told Amnesty International that police “work for the compound and will report requests for help back to the compound bosses”.
Those “rescued” from compounds were often subsequently detained in immigration detention centres in poor conditions for months at a time – the Cambodian authorities having failed to recognize them as victims of human trafficking and provide them with the support required under international law.
Meanwhile, the authorities have targeted others speaking out about scamming compounds. Several human rights defenders and journalists working on the issue have been arrested, while the news outlet Voice of Democracy was closed in 2023 in apparent retaliation for its reporting on the scamming crisis.
Amnesty International sent its findings to the NCCT, which responded by sharing vague data on interventions at compounds, none of which clarified whether the state has identified, investigated or prosecuted individuals for human rights abuses other than deprivation of liberty. It also did not respond to Amnesty International’s list of scamming compounds or suspicious locations.
© Amnesty International, 2024.
Caged windows behind high walls of a scamming compound with three rungs of barbed or razor wire.
Slavery thrives when governments look away.
Montse Ferrer, Amnesty International’s Regional Research Director
“The Cambodian government could put a stop to these abuses, but it has chosen not to. The police interventions documented appear to be merely ‘for show’,” Montse Ferrer said.
“Cambodia’s authorities must ensure no more jobseekers are trafficked into the country to face torture, slavery or any other human rights abuse. They must urgently investigate and shut down all scamming compounds and properly identify, assist and protect victims. Slavery thrives when governments look away.”
Survivors interviewed for Amnesty International’s report were from China, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Taiwan and Ethiopia, but Amnesty International also had access to records of hundreds of others who are nationals of India, Kenya, Nepal and the Philippines among many more.
Background
Under international human rights law, the Cambodian state has a duty to ensure that no one is held in slavery or servitude or required to perform forced labour. It is obligated to protect children from economic exploitation and must prevent, prohibit, investigate and prosecute acts of torture. The Cambodian government must also effectively investigate, prosecute and adjudicate trafficking whether committed by governmental or non-state actors; it must identify trafficking victims and provide remedy; and it must implement measures to ensure that “rescue” operations of trafficked persons do not further harm their rights and dignity.
*All survivors using pseudonyms for security reasons
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/06/cambodia-government-allows-slavery-torture-flourish-inside-scamming-compounds/
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