The Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh on September 7 again reminded its citizens to not be taken in by false promises of “high-paying” work, with cases of cybercrime in the Kingdom reportedly increasing.
The embassy noted that a number of cases of Chinese nationals being held with restricted personal freedom by fraudulent online gambling gangs in Cambodia have been recorded recently.
Most of the cases were due to Chinese nationals believing fake offers of high-paying work in the Kingdom, with the embassy reminding its citizens “to not believe in false offers of 'high-paying' jobs in online gambling by groups involved in online fraud and be illegally smuggled to Cambodia”.
Chou Bun Eng, secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior and permanent vice-chair of the National Committee for Counter-Trafficking (NCCT), said the Chinese embassy in Cambodia's call at this time was a reminder to its citizens.
"Cambodia has enjoyed good cooperation with the embassy, as well as the government of China, because when we have cracked down on such crimes, they have brought their people back to their country. The Chinese side is also dealing with this problem,” Bun Eng said.
She also called on all countries to take measures to prevent their citizens from becoming victims as there were such brokers everywhere.
The Cambodian and Chinese governments have joined forces to allow the Chinese community to report such cases to the authorities and request immediate intervention.
The Ministry of Interior said the authorities have set up a special service to receive reports of employment fraud and human trafficking in Cambodia.
Some 1,117 complaints of human trafficking had been reported to one of the four Facebook accounts set up as part of the system as of September 5.
According to the Ministry of Interior, the majority of cases took place in gambling operations or casinos, with most of the victims Chinese, Vietnamese or Malaysian.
The ministry said a large number of foreigners were lured to Cambodia with the promise of high-paying jobs, before being threatened into working unpaid overtime or being moved around from one company to another.
In the first eight months of this year, Cambodian authorities rescued 865 victims of human trafficking, with 60 people arrested, Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said on August 26.
With rising cases of human trafficking, Kheng reiterated Cambodia's commitment to combating cyber-fraud, drug crimes and money laundering, as well as tackling online gambling and protecting victims, both Cambodians and foreigners.
