TOPIC

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.
People from China, Vietnam, and Ethiopia – believed trafficked and forced to work in scam centers – sit masked in detention after their February release in Myawaddy, eastern Myanmar. Photo: 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

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Scams and swindles

Video | China extradites scam suspects from Myanmar

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.

Suspects are detained during a police raid on a scam centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on July 16. The operation was part of a nationwide crackdown on cybercrime networks, following Prime Minister Hun Manet’s order to shut down online scam operations often run like sweatshops. Photo: EPA
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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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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Thailand

Video | Thailand extradites gambling kingpin She Zhijiang to China

She Zhijiang will stand trial in China for illegal casino operations.

Thai court upholds extradition of Chinese gambling kingpin She Zhijiang
Cambodia

Chen Zhi’s firm breaks silence, denies tycoon’s empire built on scam money

Prince Holding Group vowed to clear its name amid global asset seizures and forced labour allegations.

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Cambodian tycoon Chen Zhi. Photo: Prince Holding Group
Singapore

Whisky, limos, missing millions: how Chen Zhi’s Singapore empire unravelled

Court filings reveal how David Wong allegedly orchestrated an internal heist at the Prince Group boss’ Singapore family office.

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Myanmar

Why many in raided Myanmar scam hub chose US$1,400 pay over ‘chance’ to flee

Several scammers stayed put to pursue new opportunities in the black market following the sweep of KK Park, a sprawling fraud factory.

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Singapore

Singapore seizes US$115 million in assets linked to tycoon behind scam hub

Police said probe into the Prince Group boss started last year after receiving intelligence from the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office.

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The Prince International Plaza in Phnom Penh. Photo: AFP
South Korea

South Korea, Cambodia form joint task force to tackle scam networks

About 2,000 South Koreans are estimated to have been ensnared in online scam operations in Cambodia.

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Myanmar

Video | Myanmar scam workers swim for Thai border

More than 600 people fled one of Myanmar’s scam compounds and crossed into Thailand, with some choosing to swim across the Moei river.

Hong Kong stock market

Director of Hong Kong-listed FSM Holdings resigns amid Cambodia allegations

Resignation follows US authorities’ accusation that Li Thet was involved with criminal network linked to Prince Holding Group.

A view of Exchange Square in Central, home to the city’s bourse operator, on April 7, 2025. Photo: Jelly Tse
South Korea

Why South Korea’s Gen Z are falling prey to the scam gangs of Southeast Asia

They leave home lured by promises of lucrative work only to face exploitation, torture and death in Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and beyond.

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South Koreans suspected of involvement in cyber scams are seen at Cambodia’s Techo International Airport before being deported on Saturday. Photo: Agence Kampuchea Presse/Xinhua
Crime in Hong Kong

How Hong Kong pair landed in Myanmar scam farm ‘living a life worse than death’

Hongkongers who managed to flee from compound in Myanmar share details of their plight and brutality of forced labour.

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Myanmar

Myanmar junta raids scam hub powered by Elon Musk’s Starlink

Troops seized 30 illegal Starlink sets and found 2,200 workers in the notorious KK Park, central to a US$37 billion regional fraud wave.

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Singapore

Thailand, Singapore investigate Chen Zhi’s group after Western fraud allegations

Investigators are reviewing financial ties to the Prince Group after its chairman was charged by the US with running a cyber fraud empire.

People walk past the Prince International Plaza in Phnom Penh on Wednesday. Prince Group Chairman Chen Zhi was charged on Tuesday by the US with running a “sprawling cyber fraud empire”. Photo: AFP
South Korea

64 South Korean cyber scam suspects repatriated from Cambodia

The group includes both voluntary workers and people forced into Cambodia’s ‘pig butchering’ crypto fraud networks.

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Police officers escort repatriated South Koreans who were detained by authorities in Cambodia over alleged cyberscam operations upon their arrival at Incheon International Airport on Saturday. Photo: Yonhap/AFP
Cambodia

Kidnapped, trapped, forced to scam: inside Cambodia’s Chinese-run crime empire

The compounds, which often run their own canteens, are surrounded by armed guards and high concrete walls topped with barbed wire.

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Singapore

3 Singaporeans sanctioned over links to Cambodia’s Chen Zhi scam network

Seventeen Singapore-registered entities have also been sanctioned as part of the US-UK cybercrime crackdown.

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