In the days following the arrest of Prince Group boss Chen Zhi, and videos showing suspected scam workers fleeing casinos and buildings, people were seen gathered outside embassies in Phnom Penh apparently to seek help to return home, with a few claiming that they had been forced to work inside suspected scam compounds in Sihanoukville.
On January 18, dozens of foreign nationals stood outside the Indonesian and Chinese embassies in Phnom Penh. Many came with luggage, prepared to leave immediately.
While waiting for the doors to the Indonesian embassy to open, Indonesian nationals took refuge in the garden, some lying down in the shade. Their sudden appearance at the embassy comes amid viral videos of people leaving casinos and large buildings in Sihanoukville and other provinces, places which were long suspected by watchdog groups to be linked to online scam.
For some, the wait outside the Indonesian embassy stretched for over eight hours. One of them was Tambah Akun, an Indonesian national who spoke to CamboJA News using Google Translate.
Akun described his escape as “manic”. He said he escaped the building with others in what he called a “mass departure”. He and the others traveled by car to Phnom Penh to seek help from their embassy.
It took them three days to reach Phnom Penh after escaping from the building in Sihanoukville where he claimed was forced to work in an online scam operation.
“I am here to ask for help to go back home,” Akun said outside the embassy. He alleged that he and his co-workers were subjected to harsh working conditions, including unpaid labor, long hours, and physical abuse. Akun alleged that anyone who attempted to escape was punished.
“There was a lot of pressure. We work overtime. People who are targeted are tortured, including electric shock treatment,” he said, pointing to his friend who was allegedly injured in the right eye as punishment for an incident which he did not state. CamboJA News was unable to independently verify the allegation or the circumstances of the injury.
By around 2 p.m., several Indonesians were taken away in vehicles to a hotel, while documents were prepared to facilitate their return to Indonesia. Akun said he was waiting for his turn as more people arrived at the embassy.
A man in a t-shirt bearing Cambodian and Indonesian flag logos was seen facilitating paperwork. He briefly told CamboJA News that the individuals wanted help to go back home after allegedly working in online scam compounds. He declined to provide further details and walked away hurriedly.
A similar scene was observed outside the Chinese embassy where over 100 people stood in line. While a few told CamboJA News also with the help of the Google Translate tool that they were there to renew their visa ahead of the Chinese New Year celebration in February, others said they had fled scam-linked buildings in Sihanoukville and wanted assistance from the Chinese government.
Authorities on site, who were responsible for security, said those gathered included people involved in online scam operations and were completing the travel documentation to go home as the government intensified crackdown. “Only some individuals are linked to scam operations, others were present solely for visa renewal related to holiday travel,” they said.
Touch Sokhak, spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, did not respond immediately to this matter.
