Caught in Cambodia’s Scam Machine: Part 1
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What is the global scam industry operating in Cambodia?
I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and you're listening to the Sunday Story from Up First.
So we've come in through the back now. Security guards stopped us. They didn't allow me to take any photos.
Earlier this year, investigative reporter Shabani Matani visited a massive industrial complex outside of Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh. It's set up like an office park, but it's fortified against the outside world.
There's barbed wire all around, CCTVs. You can see lookout posts as well on the top of the buildings.
People once lived here, about 20,000 of them.
It looks like dormitories, sort of white buildings with black rails and with bars on the windows.
And it's clear that it was abruptly abandoned. So much trash.
It's a whole little city. I mean, Times Square could fit in this. So all of these are hallmarks of a scam compound.
This cyber scam compound is among dozens in Cambodia that operated with impunity for years. Migrants were brought to these places from throughout Asia and Africa and put to work scamming people on the other side of the world. According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, the cyber scam industry managed to defraud Americans of more than $20 billion last year. And in 2024, experts estimated that profits from the cyber-scamming industry were equivalent to roughly half of Cambodia's formal GDP. But in the last several months, under international pressure, the Cambodian government has accelerated a sweeping crackdown on the industry. Scam operations have been raided and shut down, and more than 200,000 scam workers have been released.
With this ongoing effort, reporters have gained unprecedented access to a previously hidden world. Today on The Sunday Story, we have an exclusive two-part series on the global cyber scam industry. We're going to take a deeper look, not from the perspective of people who were scammed, but from the people who once took part in the scamming. Shabani Matani is based in Singapore. She's been covering Southeast Asia for more than 15 years, and she's been following the cyber scam industry for the past three. When we come back, Shabani Matani takes us to Cambodia.
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Cyber scams cost Americans more than $20 billion last year. But who are the people doing the scamming?
I never knew the job that I was going to be doing.
On the Sunday Story, an exclusive two-part series on the global scam industry from the point of view of the scammers themselves. Listen now to the Sunday Story from Up First on the NPR app. We're back with the Sunday Story. Here's investigative reporter Shabani Matani.
Since January, the Cambodian government has ramped up its raids on scam compounds across the country. And as a result, some 200,000 scam workers have poured into the streets of Phnom Penh. These people are from all over the world, at least 35 countries. And I saw reports of people streaming to the embassy gates, literally waiting outside, banging on the door, asking for help to be repatriated home. And even today, many of them are still unable to get home. So this spring, I decided to go to Phnom Penh and try to speak to some of them. I wanted to know what was their firsthand experience of the scam industry. How did they end up in Cambodia? I thought they could give an unfiltered view of the inner workings of this industry.
I spoke to dozens of people on that trip. Most of the scam workers were from China and also from Indonesia. But it surprised me how many of them came from Africa.
My name is Ishmael. My name is Oscar.
My name is Ama. And all the stories were actually remarkably similar.
I was trafficked in Cambodia for like a fake promise of a job. The job was offering $1,200. So I was like, wow, this is a good opportunity.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the global scam industry operating in Cambodia?
0:02–6:03
2
How did workers end up in Cambodia's scam compounds?
6:03–13:06
3
What promises lured workers to Cambodia for scam jobs?
13:06–20:50
4
Who is Shuaib and what is his story in Cambodia?
20:50–26:57
5
What were the initial experiences of workers in scam operations?
26:57–35:07
Speakers
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