Illegal labor

ASEAN leaders have adopted a bold Kuala Lumpur Declaration ASEAN 2045 vision for a united, resilient, and people-centred region, but analysts warn that deepening internal divisions—especially the Myanmar crisis—and the rise of transnational crime threaten to derail those ambitions. ...

UN experts are sounding the alarm over a humanitarian crisis unfolding in Southeast Asia, urging immediate, human rights-based action to dismantle scam compounds—including in Cambodia—where hundreds of thousands of people are “trafficked, trapped, and forced into online criminal operations”. ...

Two of the Kingdom’s top officials have raised concerns about online security challenges in 2025, identifying internet fraud as a major issue among several threats that require heightened attention from the National Police. ...

Two women, claiming to be sisters, made a desperate appeal for help in a short video posted on social media, claiming they had been tricked and sold into human trafficking by a Chinese man. ...

 Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra strengthened 75 years of diplomatic ties, signing seven cooperation deals on labor, infrastructure, and border development, while also addressing issues like online scams, migrant workers, and security. ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra have jointly announced an agreement to enhance cooperation between the two countries in combating online scams. ...

Since the beginning of the year, Chinese authorities have repatriated a total of 98 Cambodian victims of human trafficking – 97 of them women and girls – in 42 cases. ...

During his April 17-18 state visit to Cambodia, Chinese President Xi Jinping praised the Kingdom’s efforts to crack down on illegal online gambling and scam operations. ...

A translator who said she was brutally abused inside a building in the emerging scam compound city of Sampov Poun is demanding justice, accusing police of delaying action. Kandal provincial police met with her on Monday, following her appearance on a local media outlet. ...

Cambodian authorities raided an online scam center in Phnom Penh on March 31, detaining 186 foreigners accused of running internet fraud schemes, the Cambodia-China Times reported. ...

Enforcement action against human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Cambodia increased in 2024, with authorities cracking down on a total of 197 cases, up by 33 from the previous year. The number of foreign offenders deported from Cambodia surged by more than double. ...

Police are hunting for a group of criminals who attempted to abduct a Chinese man in Kandal province on March 3. The victim leapt from a moving vehicle to escape, in a scene which went viral on social media. ...

The Royal Government of Cambodia has officially established the Commission for Combatting Online Scams, a high-level task force chaired by Prime Minister Hun Manet. ...

Thai officials have halted cross-border telecommunication services to suspected scam centers in Poipet, Cambodia, sparking a dispute with Cambodian counterparts who denounced the move. ...

Cambodian authorities successfully rescued a man who was kidnapped in Thailand, drugged, and transported to Cambodia, where he was held captive while his captors attempted to extort a ransom from his family. ...

Former tycoon Heng Sithy, who made a series of corruption allegations against senior government officials and families of the ruling party, has been arrested at the Russian border. ...

Hun Sen, president of the Cambodian Senate and leader of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), met personally with Chinese President Xi Jinping on December 3, as part of his three-day official visit to China. He encouraged increased security cooperation in areas like fraud and online gambling, ...

Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has expressed “deep regret” over what it described as the “unjust” decision by the US Department of the Treasury (USDT) to impose sanctions on business tycoon Ly Yong Phat and several enterprises in the country. ...

The government has launched a strategic plan to combat all forms of human trafficking over the next five years. The goal is to gradually reduce and ultimately eliminate human trafficking. ...

Six refugees who were arrested during a Paris Peace Agreements (PPA) training on December 29 last year and detained at the Suan Plu Immigration Detention Center in Thailand were released from mid-June to June 25. ...

Cambodia was ranked lowest for its response to human trafficking by the U.S. for the third year in a row, with a new report saying that Cambodian officials have not done enough – and in some unnamed cases, have been complicit – in human trafficking ...

Prime Minister Hun Manet and many government ministries celebrated this year’s June 12 World Day Against Child Labour, held under the theme “Let’s act on our commitments: End Child Labour!” ...

The Indian government has so far rescued 250 citizens in Cambodia who were forced to run online scams. ...

Interior Ministry police are searching for the ringleader in a human trafficking case following the rescue of a 16-year-old who was trafficked to China. ...