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Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
More than 1,000 arrested in Cambodian cyber-scam raids
Cambodian authorities have arrested more than 1,000 people in raids on cyber-scam compounds. The suspects were arrested in raids in at least five provinces between Monday and Wednesday, according to statements from Information Minister Neth Pheaktra and police. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet issued a directive made public on Tuesday, telling law enforcement and the military 'to prevent and crack down on online scams', warning they risk losing their jobs if they fail to take action. Since the pandemic, Cambodia has been plagued by the rapid spread of cyber-scam operations – many of them run by Chinese organised crime groups. Inside compounds ranging from individual flats to sprawling, multibuilding affairs, an international army of scammers is forced to run global romance and business cons that have bilked unwitting victims out of billions of dollars. Most of those employed are lured in with promises of good jobs, only to face torture or even death if they try and escape. The UN estimates that more than 100,000 people are enslaved in Cambodia alone, part of a wider landscape in Southeast Asia responsible for an estimated $40bn stolen annually. Those detained included more than 200 Vietnamese, 27 Chinese, and 75 suspects from Taiwan and 85 Cambodians in the capital Phnom Penh and the southern city of Sihanoukville. Police also seized equipment, including computers and hundreds of mobile phones. At least 270 Indonesians, including 45 women, were arrested Wednesday in Poipet, a town on the border with Thailand notorious for cyber-scam and gambling operations, the minister said. Elsewhere, police in the northeastern province of Kratie arrested 312 people, including nationals of Thailand, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam, while 27 people from Vietnam, China and Myanmar were arrested in the western province of Pursat. While the crackdown is the latest in a series of mass arrests, many critics have accused the government of doing too little to prevent their spread, alleging corruption and insider dealing. The US government in September imposed sanctions on tycoon Ly Yong Phat, a close associate of the prime minister and his family, over allegations of forced labour and cyber-scams. Last month, Amnesty International released a report accusing the Cambodian government of 'deliberately ignoring a litany of human rights abuses including slavery, human trafficking, child labour and torture being carried out by criminal gangs on a vast scale in more than 50 scamming compounds located across the country'. The government has routinely denied such claims, saying they are doing what they can. Cambodia's latest crackdown comes in the middle of a bitter feud with neighboring Thailand, which began with a brief armed skirmish in late May over border territory claimed by both nations and has now led to border closures and nearly daily exchanges of nationalistic insults. Friendly former leaders of both countries have become estranged and there have been heated debates about which nation's cultural heritage has influenced the other. Measures initiated by the Thai side, including cutting off cross-border electricity supplies and closing crossing points, have particularly heightened tensions, with Cambodia claiming it was retaliation for its intention to pursue its territorial claims. Thailand said its original intention was to combat long-running cyber-scam operations in Poipet.
The Sun
6 days ago
- The Sun
Warning over horrifying swindle carried out by cyber gangs who raid people's bank accounts
BRITS have been warned over a horrifying swindle carried out by gangs of cyber criminals who raid people's bank accounts. The devastating con is usually carried out by Chinese organised crime groups who have been estimated to have stolen billions of dollars from victims worldwide. 2 So-called 'pig butchering' is where scammers established fake romantic and trusting relationships with victims before luring them into fraudulent investments or other financial traps. In 2023, Shan Hanes, a banker from Kansas, US, embezzled £34.6million from his bank to cover his losses, having fallen victim to a pig butchering scam. Hanes was later sentenced to more than 24 years behind bars. Usually, a pig butchering scam works in three stages – hunting, raising and killing. This involves a scammer finding a victim online, chatting to them in order to build up trust and then getting them to invest large amounts of money into fraudulent schemes. The scam works in a similar way to a traditional romance scam, where scammers approach their victims by posing as a possible romantic partner on a dating app, or as a friend via social media. The big difference though is how the scam is executed. With a romance scam, trust is based on the victim's urge to maintain a romantic relationship with the scammer. In this scenario, the scam can often last for years. Pig butchering scams though, in comparison, generally take place over a much shorter time period. Interview with Richard Foster who is a ransomware negotiator The scammer, rather than focusing on trying to extract money through emotional manipulation, leans more on the victim's desire to make money together with the scammer. This can involve just a few months rather than years to take advantage of the victim. Usually, the scammer will present themselves as being financially successful and confident with a broad network and have appealing investment opportunities. Once the victim has made an initial small investment, the scammer will then try to escalate the process and push them into making a much larger financial commitment, reports. In 2024, Jacqueline Crenshaw, from Connecticut, US, met a man on an online dating site. He posed as a widower with two children and regularly chatted to Crenshaw on the phone. In just two months, they started talking about investing in cryptocurrency. She sent him $40,000 (£29,500) at first and received screenshots from him showing supposedly huge profits from the investment. Crenshaw was then encouraged to invest much more and it ultimately led to her losing almost $1 million (£738,000). Highly organised criminal gangs are thought to run these pig butchering scams with them using management teams who provide training to new recruits and even hire people as models who can interact with the victim. The Chinese government has taken a number of measures in order to try to stamp out the fraud. The Anti-Telecom Fraud Act was introduced in 2022 which was aimed at specifically preventing and punishing the use of telecommunications and internet technologies to defraud individuals and organizations. The Chinese Ministry of Public Security has also launched the National Anti-Fraud Centre App. This app allows the public to report scams and access real-time risk alerts relating to fraud. Along with the work of other government departments, it has helped intercept 4.7billion scam calls and 3.4billion fraudulent text messages since the start of 2024. The crackdown by the Chinese authorites has made it more difficult for criminal groups to operate in the country, leading many criminals to relocate abroad with South-East Asian countries – mainly Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar – being their chosen destination. The collapse of the illegal online gambling industry in the region following the Covid pandemic has led criminal gangs to look for new sources of revenue. Estimates of the profits made from online scams amount to around 40 percent of the combined GDP of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. The leaders of the criminal gangs often operate from tightly controlled compounds which act as hubs for online scams, with their primary focus on pig butchering. These compounds are usually presented as being 'technology parks' which help recruit workers. However, many people are forced into working for the scammers. While pig butchering can inflict severe financial hardship on the victims, the crime gangs are often also closely tied with violent crime, human trafficking as well as other forms of organised criminal behaviour. 2
