Apparent police collusion is allowing trafficking and enslavement of huge numbers of people

More than two-thirds of the scamming compounds identified continue to operate after police raids

First-hand testimony exposes massive and extremely violent criminal operation

‘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’ - Survivor Siti*

‘The Government could put a stop to these abuses, but it has chosen not to’ – Montse Ferrer

The Cambodian government is deliberately ignoring human rights abuses including slavery, human trafficking, child labour and torture that are 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 240-page 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.

Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said.

“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.

“Jobseekers from Asia and beyond are lured by the promise of well-paid work into hellish labour camps run by well-organised 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.

Held by force

In the most comprehensive documentation yet of the issue, Amnesty’s 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.

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 was held for 11 months against her will by armed security guards and forced to work on scams. When she tried to escape, she was severely beaten. She said:

“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.” 

Sold into slavery

As part of its 18-month-long research, Amnesty 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 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 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. 

Police in league with compound bosses

Amnesty’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 Government has claimed to be addressing the scamming crisis through its National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking 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 beaten after their secretive efforts to contact police for help were somehow uncovered by bosses. One Vietnamese survivor told Amnesty 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 recognise 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, apparently in retaliation for its reporting on the scamming crisis.

Amnesty sent its findings to the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking, which responded by sharing vague data on interventions at compounds, none of which clarified whether the Government has identified, investigated or prosecuted individuals for human rights abuses other than deprivation of liberty. It also did not respond to Amnesty’s list of scamming compounds or suspicious locations.

Montse Ferrer, Amnesty International’s Regional Research Director, said.

“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.

“The Government could put a stop to these abuses, but it has chosen not to. The police interventions documented appear to be merely ‘for show’.

“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’s report were from China, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan and Ethiopia, but Amnesty also had access to records of hundreds of others from India, Kenya, Nepal and the Philippines and many more.

Press conference

Amnesty will be presenting the findings of the report in a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand in Bangkok on Thursday 26 June. For further information or to register for the event, visit https://forms.office.com/e/tZivUqtUv4

*All survivors using pseudonyms for security reasons