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Southeast Asia forced-labour scams

Southeast Asia forced-labour scams
Overseas job scams are rising sharply with many being lured to Southeast Asia and forced into illegal work. Cases involving Hongkongers were first revealed in 2022.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet shake hands during a summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 25, 2025. Photo: Korea Times
South Korea

‘Ruin you’: Cambodians outraged by South Korean president’s anti-scam threat

Critics said Lee Jae Myung should have posted in Chinese, not Khmer, as his warning to foreign syndicates sparked anger across Cambodia.

Myanmar

Video | 4 more telecoms fraud gang members executed in China

Cambodia

Inside an abandoned Cambodian scam centre seized by Thai troops

Crime in China

China moves to boost cybercrime penalties by adding exit ban after sentences

Amid cross-border crackdown, draft Cybercrime Prevention and Control Law bill lists exit bans among tools to punish cybercriminals.

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A draft bill announced by China’s public security ministry aims to impose an exit ban on Chinese found guilty of cross-border online crimes for up to three years after serving their sentence. Photo: Shutterstock
China-Asean relations

Nearly 1,800 Chinese among thousands held as Cambodian police raid scam compound

Action ‘truly reflects’ that Cambodian government will never loosen crackdowns on online scammers, interior ministry spokesman says.

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Myanmar

Video | China executes 11 members of telecoms syndicate

Members of the Ming family crime syndicate found guilty of murder, illegal detention, running casinos and other offences.

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Cambodia

Video | South Korean scam suspects brought home from Cambodia

Seoul continues its crackdown on scam centres in Southeast Asia following the kidnapping and murder of a South Korean student in Cambodia.

Police officers escort South Koreans allegedly involved in scam operations in Cambodia after being forcibly repatriated from Cambodia, at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea January 23, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Soo-hyeon
South Korea

73 South Koreans repatriated from Cambodia face online scam probe

Arriving in handcuffs, the suspects allegedly scammed fellow South Koreans out of US$33 million.

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Cambodia

Video | Hundreds of Indonesians leave Cambodian scam centres

Authorities are investigating whether scam workers, many without legal documents, joined voluntarily.

Thailand

Ruling Thai party vows to end Cambodia conflict, close scam hubs if it wins poll

Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Bhumjaithai’s second candidate after Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, believes his party has popular support.

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China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi (centre) looks on as Thailand’s Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow (right) shakes hands with Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn during a meeting in China’s Yunnan province on December 29, 2025. Photo: Agence Kampuchea Presse/AFP
Thailand

Suspected scam boss linked to South Korean student’s death arrested in Thailand

The arrest follows international outrage over the killing of the university student, which led to a joint Thai–South Korean investigation.

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South Korean police escort detainees at Techo International Airport in Phnom Penh on October 18, 2025, after a joint Cambodian–South Korean operation targeting scam networks linked to the trafficking of foreign nationals. Photo: EPA
Scams and swindles

Editorial | Regional cooperation led to arrest of alleged scam kingpin Chen Zhi

The cross-border nature of his alleged criminal network required governments and law enforcement agencies to work together.

Cambodia

Cambodia dissolves accused scam tycoon Chen Zhi’s Prince Bank

The central bank said the lender has been ‘suspended from providing new banking services, including accepting deposits and providing credit’.

Myanmar

Asian Angle | How uneven borders fuel Myanmar’s vast and resilient scam economy

Fieldwork along the borders of China and Thailand reveals how uneven controls allow fraud networks to thrive despite crackdowns.

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Advertisements for gambling sites and what appears to be Starlink satellite dishes on the roofs of buildings at the notorious KK Park complex in Myanmar’s eastern Myawaddy township, as pictured from Mae Sot district in Thailand’s border province of Tak, on September 17. Photo: AFP
Malaysia

Malaysian forced to scam Hongkongers recalls nightmare in Myanmar

Chew said he would be ‘beaten, electrocuted or starved for more than a week’ if he ‘failed’ in his task.

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Myanmar soldiers raid a scam centre in Myawaddy township, Karen state, in October. Photo: Myanmar Military True News Information Team via AP
Malaysia

31 Malaysians repatriated from Myanmar job scam syndicate

The job scam victims rescued from a Myawaddy job syndicate return home safely after intensive diplomatic negotiations and a 26-hour land journey.

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Singapore

Singapore arrests US-sanctioned yacht captain linked to tycoon Chen Zhi

Police said Nigel Tang was arrested for his ‘suspected involvement in money laundering offences’ related to the alleged scam empire boss.

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Scams and swindles

Video | China extradites scam suspects from Myanmar

The extraditions follow Myanmar’s raids on multiple scam compounds since October 2025.

More than 1,000 suspects of telecoms fraud have been extradited to China following raids on multiple scam compounds in Myanmar since October 2025.
Scams and swindles

Letters | Cambodia is confronting the scourge of online scams head-on

Readers discuss the cross-border effort targeting the syndicates behind Cambodia’s scam farms, Malaysia’s first fully home-grown EV, and the investigation into the Tai Po fire in Hong Kong.

Thailand

‘Everyone gets a cut’: why Southeast Asia’s scam industry refuses to die

Authorities are seizing assets and raiding compounds, but analysts warn the clumsy crackdown is merely scattering syndicates to new hideouts.

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Malaysia

Escaped Malaysian reveals torture, rape inside Cambodia job scam centre

Muhammad Syafiq said hundreds of Malaysians are still trapped in the Phnom Penh site, where he was beaten up daily.

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Computers and equipment at an online scam centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: EPA/Agence Kampuchea Presse
South Korea

Seoul sanctions Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi in Cambodia crime crackdown

Chen Zhi, the chairman of the Prince Group, is accused of overseeing scam compounds that detained dozens of South Koreans.

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Cambodian tycoon Chen Zhi. Photo: Prince Holding Group
Singapore

Singapore deepens probe into Chen Zhi’s alleged scam empire with fresh raid

The city state’s police raided a car loan company that borrowed from a firm linked to the tycoon’s Prince Holding Group.

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The Philippines

Alice Guo gets life term for human trafficking linked to Philippine scam hub

The verdict comes at a time when Asean leaders have expressed alarm over rising cybercrimes perpetrated by transnational gangs.

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Asean

Asean unifies under single extradition treaty to fight organised crime

The treaty is expected to plug major cooperation gaps by creating uniform rules across a region struggling with cybercrime and trafficking.

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The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has named Southeast Asia the “ground zero” for what it estimates is a multibillion global online scamming industry. Photo: Shutterstock
Japan

Cambodian tycoon linked to scam empire owned luxury condo in Tokyo

The Prince Holding Group boss, who is accused of running a conglomerate built on cyberscam operations, visited Japan frequently.

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Tokyo’s skyline. Cambodian tycoon Chen Zhi, indicted in the US for fraud, owned a luxury home in the Japanese capital. Photo: AFP
US-Asean relations

What US anti-scam ‘strike force’ means for Southeast Asia’s cybercrime fight

Analysts say the US initiative can serve as a coordination blueprint to push back against transnational criminal enterprises.

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Cryptocurrency

US, Chinese authorities ramp up actions against syndicates running crypto scams

Syndicates either trick or coerce targeted victims to invest in bogus schemes and transfer funds via bitcoin, ether or stablecoins.

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