South Korean police say they’re seeking arrest warrants for 58 of the 64 citizens deported from Cambodia over the weekend for alleged links to sprawling “pig butchering” scam networks, online fraud operations that have become a dark export industry across Southeast Asia.
The National Police Agency confirmed Monday that one suspect is already in custody, while five others were released. The group was flown home in handcuffs after weeks of pressure from Seoul to stem the tide of South Koreans being trafficked into scam compounds.
Officials estimate that as many as 1,000 South Koreans are trapped in Cambodia’s online scam centres, many lured by fake job ads, then forced into cyberfraud targeting victims around the world.
The schemes, known locally as “pig butchering” (a metaphor for fattening up victims before “slaughter”), rely on cultivating fake online relationships to trick people into investing in fraudulent cryptocurrency platforms. Victims, often in China, the US, and South Korea, lose everything.
Seoul’s National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said the deportees included both “voluntary and involuntary participants,” hinting that some may have been victims themselves.
The crackdown follows public outrage over the August killing of a South Korean college student in Cambodia, reportedly kidnapped and tortured by a scam centre ring. That case became a national scandal and spurred Seoul to send a high-level delegation, including police and intelligence officers, to Phnom Penh last week.
In response, South Korea has now banned travel to parts of Cambodia, citing a rise in kidnappings and forced labour.
The crackdown comes amid a broader international push against the scam industry, which exploded during the pandemic as shuttered casinos turned to cybercrime.
Last week, the US and UK sanctioned the Cambodia-based Prince Group, a powerful network accused of running “scam cities” across the Mekong region. US Attorney General Pam Bondi called it “one of the most significant strikes ever against the global scourge of human trafficking and cyber-enabled financial fraud.”
Meanwhile, Japan’s NHK reported that Tokyo police arrested three suspects linked to similar operations in Cambodia.
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