Cambodian politicians 'profit from online scammers'
Source: The Times (UK)
Politicians in Cambodia are supporting and profiting from criminal online scam centres that use trafficked forced labour to trick lonely people in Europe and America, a new report has shown.
Its findings support those of United Nations investigators who recently said scam centres continue to grow and spread “like a cancer” — despite the recent closure of sites in Myanmar and public promises to crack down on them by southeast Asian governments — putting at risk both the people forced to work there and the victims they cheat.
“Cambodia is likely the absolute global epicentre of next-gen transnational fraud in 2025 and is certainly the country most primed for explosive growth going forward,” says the report by the Humanity Research Consultancy (HRC), which campaigns against human trafficking. “Cambodian state institutions systematically and insidiously support and protect the criminal networks involved in transnational fraud and related human trafficking.”
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The “scamdemic” emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic when casinos, deprived of gamblers, encouraged their criminal operators to switch to online scams. They recruited people from across the world, some of whom work willingly and others who are hoodwinked with promises of respectable work and forced into staying with threats and physical violence.
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Read more: https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/cambodia-fraud-scam-centres-rlxw3rm5j
Much more at the link.