Concern for thousands of people stranded in Cambodia without support

Cambodian government must help bring all victims to safety

People must not be forcibly sent back to countries where they risk being persecuted

‘Thousands of people are now stranded in Cambodia without support and at risk of being re-trafficked into other compounds’ - Montse Ferrer

Responding to emerging videos that appear to show the release and attempted escape of victims from scamming compounds across Cambodia, Montse Ferrer, Amnesty International’s Regional Research Director, said:

“Footage appearing to show the mass release and attempted escape from scamming compounds of people who are possibly victims of human trafficking and torture raises concerns that thousands of people are now stranded in Cambodia without support and at risk of being re-trafficked into other compounds.   

“The Cambodian government must provide support for these people and help bring all victims who remain inside scamming compounds to safety, as well as ensure their access to justice and remedy. They must not be forcibly sent back to countries where they risk being persecuted, as has happened in the past.

“This latest dramatic development reflects the alarming scale of the problem of the scamming industry in Cambodia and the failure of the Government to properly investigate and hold those responsible to account.

“If the Cambodian government is serious about ending this slave-driven industry, it must now investigate all scamming compounds in the country. Where there is sufficient evidence, it must prosecute perpetrators and their accomplices – including landlords and companies who have contributed to the harms of scamming compounds. Testimonies from victims, if willing, should be used to prosecute the offenders in Cambodian courts.”

Many victims trafficked

Amnesty has geolocated 15 videos and images, many provided by the research group CyberScamMonitor, and reviewed social media posts that appear to show escape attempts and releases at least 10 scamming compounds across Cambodia within the last 36 hours. Seven of these sites were profiled in Amnesty’s June 2025 report, ‘I Was Someone Else's Property’, on scamming compounds where they were referenced as BA01, KA02, SI03, SI08, SI15, SI37 and SI38.

Videos show people leaving, or having already left, multiple sites which Amnesty has confirmed as scamming compounds or identified as suspected scamming compounds. In some of the videos, people appear to be being beaten by security guards at the gates of one of these sites in Bavet (BA01).

To date, Amnesty has interviewed more than 100 victims of the scamming industry who are often trafficked into compounds from outside of Cambodia where they are then enslaved, forced to scam or recruit others, deprived of their liberty and tortured if they do not comply with the orders of their bosses.

Amnesty’s report found that more than 50 scamming compounds across Cambodia were sites of widespread slavery including human trafficking and forced labour, there was also torture and other human rights abuses. The centres operated as prison-like facilities controlled by organised criminal groups. The report concluded that Cambodian authorities had failed to prevent or address these violations, with evidence pointing towards state complicity or deliberate inaction that had allowed the industry to flourish.

In July 2025, the Cambodian government announced a nationwide crackdown on scamming compounds in the country. The Government later said it had freed more than 3,000 victims of human trafficking.