Indonesians rescued from gambling syndicates in Cambodia

Some 44 Indonesians have been rescued by Cambodian authorities after they were “traded like cattle” within a syndicate of Chinese companies and forced into scamming people through online gambling syndicates.

The government-friendly Khmer Times said the release of the Indonesians followed days of negotiations amid careful planning and coordination with Cambodian law enforcement agencies and the Indonesian embassy in Phnom Penh.

Of the 44, more than 30 “had gone through a harrowing time when they were traded like cattle by another online gambling syndicate from Sihanoukville to Chrey Thum,” the report said.

Sihanoukville, a favored provincial city for Chinese investors on Cambodia’s south coast, is a hive of gambling — legal or otherwise — and has earned a reputation for organized crime. Chrey Thum is on Cambodia’s southeast frontier near the Vietnamese border.

The report said the Indonesians were forced to work at least 12 hours a day and often faced threats from the company unless they reached a daily quota of scammed victims.

“If the recruited workers failed to reach the bare minimum, their lives became a living hell. In order to leave the company, the syndicate operators demanded that the workers or their families pay between US$3,000 and $5,000 as compensation money to be released,” it said.

Source: https://www.ucanews.com/news/indonesians-rescued-from-gambling-syndicates-in-cambodia/96364#