Authorities are seeking formal arrest warrants for the majority of 64 South Korean nationals recently flown home from Cambodia, where they had been detained for allegedly working in online scam centers. The individuals were repatriated on a charter flight Saturday after being detained in Cambodia over the past several months. Upon their arrival in South Korea, police immediately detained them to investigate whether they willingly participated in the scam operations or were forced into the work. State prosecutors have now requested that local courts issue arrest warrants for 58 of the returnees, who are accused of engaging in online fraud such as romantic scams, voice phishing, and bogus investment pitches, primarily targeting fellow South Koreans. The courts are expected to rule on the arrests soon, though five of the returnees have already been set free, with police declining to provide a reason while investigations are ongoing.
The rise of online scams, many of which are based in Southeast Asian nations, has accelerated sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a dual set of victims: the tens of thousands of people forced to work as scammers and the targets of their fraud. Monitoring groups estimate that these operations net international criminal gangs billions of dollars each year. Adding to the urgency of the issue, four of the recently repatriated individuals told South Korean investigators that they were beaten while being held against their will in the Cambodian scam centers. This highlights the growing public pressure in South Korea for the government to take stronger action to protect its citizens from being trafficked into these overseas operations.
This public concern has intensified following the death of a South Korean national in Cambodia this past August. The 22-year-old university student was reportedly lured to the country by a friend and was found dead after being tortured by a scam organization, where he was intended to provide his bank account for use in the fraud. Officials in Seoul estimate that approximately 1,000 South Koreans are currently being held in scam centers in Cambodia. In response, South Korean authorities last week imposed a travel ban on parts of Cambodia and dispatched a government delegation to the country to discuss joint preventative measures.
The scale of this human trafficking crisis is vast, with estimates from the U.N. and other international agencies suggesting that at least 100,000 people have been trafficked to scam centers in Cambodia, with a similar number in Myanmar and tens of thousands more in other countries. These online scam centers were historically concentrated in Southeast Asian nations, with most of the trafficked and coerced workers coming from elsewhere in Asia.
However, an Interpol report from June indicates that the geographical scope of the problem has expanded significantly over the past three years. The report notes that victims are now being trafficked to Southeast Asia from distant regions including South America, Western Europe, and Eastern Africa. Furthermore, new scam centers have been reported in areas including the Middle East, West Africa, and Central America, demonstrating the truly global nature of this criminal enterprise.
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