JavaScript is off. Please enable to view full site.

Malaysia brings home 15 victims of Cambodian cybercrime racket

Malaysia brings home 15 victims of Cambodian cybercrime racket

Thursday, September 22, 2022, 15:42 GMT+7
Malaysia brings home 15 victims of Cambodian cybercrime racket
View of a shuttered Great Wall Park compound where Cambodian authorities said they had recovered evidence of human trafficking, kidnapping and torture during raids on suspected cybercrime compounds in the coastal city of Sihanoukville, Cambodia September 21, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Malaysian authorities have rescued 15 victims of suspected cybercrime rackets in Cambodia, its foreign ministry said, as the government steps up efforts to help hundreds of its citizens trapped by similar operations across Southeast Asia.

The rescue of the victims, who arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, comes amid raids across Cambodia this week on cybercrime compounds suspected of trafficking people into the country to work in illegal gambling and scam call centres.

In a statement late Wednesday, Malaysia's foreign ministry said it had received 301 reports of people trapped by the job scam networks in Cambodia, as well as in Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand.

Of these, 168 people have been rescued, 34 were being held in immigration detention and 99 more were still being traced, it said.

Victims of the rackets say they are lured into Cambodia by promises of high-paying jobs at casinos and hotels but were instead forced to live in compounds and defraud online users with internet romances and cryptocurrency schemes.

Cambodian authorities have said they had found evidence of illegal gambling, illegal confinement and torture, prostitution, illegal weapons possession, money laundering, and human trafficking at one of the compounds.

Reuters

More

Read more

The other greenhouse gases warming the planet

While carbon dioxide, or CO2, is the best known greenhouse gas, several others, including methane and nitrous oxide, are also driving global warming and altering the Earth's climate

1 day ago
;

VIDEOS

‘Taste of Australia’ gala dinner held in Ho Chi Minh City after 2-year hiatus

Taste of Australia Gala Reception has returned to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Vietnamese woman gives unconditional love to hundreds of adopted children

Despite her own immense hardship, she has taken in and cared for hundreds of orphans over the past three decades.

Latest news

Hundreds of UK police sacked for misconduct

Nearly 600 police officers in England and Wales were sacked in the year to March 2024, figures showed Tuesday, as police chiefs battle to restore public confidence after a string of scandals