In Cambodia, thousands flood out of ‘scam compounds’ and find increasingly little help

BANGKOK (AP) — One recent night, Youga was grateful when he finally slept in a bed — even though it had neither pillow nor blanket.

For two days, the African man said, he slept on the street after he reached Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, following his escape from a scam compound in O’Smach, which borders Thailand in the north. He had only $100 left to his name and wanted to save the money. So the Caritas shelter took him in.

The shelter, the only one of its kind that helps victims escaping from scam compounds, was funded previously by the United States. Today, it is stretched at the seams, working with a third of the staff and a fraction of the budget it previously had as the country faces an unprecedented surge of workers leaving scam compounds.

Now, overwhelmed, the shelter has had to turn away people in need — more than 300 of them. Mark Taylor, who works on human trafficking issues in Cambodia, said: “It’s become triage.”

As of last week, the shelter had about 150 people. Many of the newest arrivals were sleeping in a common room and didn’t have more than the clothes on their backs. The shelter didn’t have enough pillows and blankets, said Youga, who spoke on condition that only his first name be used out of fear of his former bosses.

Cambodia is facing an unprecedented flood of workers leaving scam compounds. It comes weeks after the country extradited a suspected kingpin of the scam business who had played a prominent role in Cambodian society to China in January.

In recent years, online-based scams have become endemic to the region in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos. Inside these buildings, scammers have built sophisticated operations, utilizing phone booths lined with foam for soundproofing, scripts in multiple languages, and even fake police booths of countries ranging from Brazil to China. In Cambodia, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights estimated that there were up to 100,000 workers alone in 2023.

After growing international pressure from countries like South Korea, the U.S. and China built up over the past several months, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet announced last month that “combating crime is a deliberate political priority” and specifically named cyberfraud. The Cambodian government said it deported 1,620 foreign nationals from 21 countries linked to scam operations in January.

Compounds have been letting people go en masse in recent days, according to 15 videos and images on social media verified by Amnesty International. The organization also interviewed 35 victims, who described a “chaotic and dangerous” situation in trying to leave, although many noted a lack of involvement from Cambodian authorities in the mass exodus.

The departures from scamming compounds have created a humanitarian crisis on the streets that, activists say, is being ignored by the Cambodian government. Amid scenes of chaos and suffering, thousands of traumatized survivors are being left to fend for themselves with no state support,” Montse Ferrer, regional research director for Amnesty International, said in a statement.

“The Royal Government of Cambodia rejects claims that it is failing trafficking victims or tolerating abuse linked to scam compounds,” said Neth Pheaktra, Minister of Information Cambodia in response to the claims. “All individuals are screened to separate victims from perpetrators, with victims receiving protection, shelter, medical care, and assistance for safe return.”

Li Ling, a rescuer, said she had a list of 223 people, mostly from Uganda and Kenya who had come out from compounds in Cambodia asking for help to get home. She and her partner had spent at least $1000 of their own money to shelter some of the most desperate cases, but cannot sustain that beyond another week.

As of last week, some had gone back to work in the compounds, she added. It was that or face sleeping on the streets.

“When international organizations based in Cambodia are continuing to tell victims to go to their embassies, but the embassies tell us frankly, they don’t have a clear path or process, the responsibility is being shoved back and forth, creating a closed loop with no exit,” she said. “This is not a one-off failure, but a systemic breakdown.”

Those victims waited for hours outside the Phnom Penh office of the International Organization for Migration, a UN agency, she said, but were told the Caritas shelter, which IOM works, with is full.

Youga, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said he was beaten often while inside a compound because he refused to work. He was determined to get out and escaped on his own as the mass releases began.

The Associated Press was not able to independently verify all of his journey but saw messages of his pleas for help to IOM. The agency said they could not comment on individual cases.

While the shelter is still operating, of most immediate concern in the coming weeks is the budget for food, Taylor said. “It’s hand to mouth.”

The Caritas shelter received financial support from Winrock International, USAID’s partner in Cambodia, according to Taylor who oversaw the funding. It was due to receive $1.4 million from USAID from September 2023 through the first part of 2026. That source of funding went away after U.S. foreign assistance was suspended and USAID was dismantled in early 2025.

The shelter was also partially funded by IOM, which was largely funded by the U.S. and has also seen its funding cut.

Although many anti-trafficking organizations are registered in Cambodia, the Caritas shelter is the only one who takes in victims of scam compounds in an increasingly repressive environment. Amid government pressure, independent media have shut down, and a prominent journalist — known for reporting on scam compounds — was arrested and detained for a month.

“Given the deeply repressive environment in Cambodia that emerges from the scam industry’s role as a dominant source of ruling party elite rent seeking, there are an extremely small number of formal organizations willing to respond to the issue on the ground,” said Jacob Daniel Sims, a visiting fellow at the Harvard University Asia Center who has worked in countertrafficking in Cambodia.

Rescuers say many who do not make it to the shelter can end up in immigration detention, stuck and pushed for bribes from officials. Others are now booking hotel rooms in groups if they have the funds. Those with embassies in the country are able to get help, such as Indonesians or Filipinos.

Youga cannot return home. He is from the Banyamulenge ethnic group, which has been the target of attacks by armed groups. Nor does he have an embassy in the region that can assist him.

He was lured into a scam compound in Cambodia in November after his family sent him to neighboring Burundi. He said he wasn’t looking for a job, but someone he didn’t know messaged him on his phone and then emailed him about a job, all expenses paid. He said no, but the recruiter still went ahead.

Youga said he was a university student before and wanted to continue. For now, he only hopes for a safe place. “I want,” he said, “to rebuild my life with dignity.”