Fed up with the physical abuse they faced and armed with homemade weapons, workers recently forced their way out of the Cambodian casino scam complex where they worked. Radio Free Asia reports the compound was home to an online scam operation whose owner was recently sanctioned by the U.S. due to alleged abuses related to the treatment of trafficked workers in online scam centers.
Turning bed frames into weapons to gain freedom
Nearly 60 foreign workers, mainly from Nepal and Pakistan had been working at O-Smach, a resort and known online scam compound in Northern Cambodia. According to the police, they were fed up with the beatings they received while working there. So, using metal rods they pulled from their bed frames, they forced their way out of one of the gates. Although their method of escape is unprecedented, the abuse the workers experienced at O-Smach comes as no surprise.
The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement:
“For more than two years, from 2022 to 2024, O-Smach Resort has been investigated by police and publicly reported on for extensive and systemic serious human rights abuse,”
Additionally, according to the same U.S. Treasury Dept. Statement, previous victims reported they were lured to O-Smach Resort by false promises of gainful employment. On arrival their phones and passports were confiscated and under threat of violence they were forced to work scam operations.
A sanction-worthy reputation
Once free, the workers walked more than 5 km (3.2 miles) away from O-Smach. Police picked them up and shuttled them to the provincial capital where they were questioned. And while workers only told police that they wanted to “change where they worked”, O-Smach’s reputation speaks for itself.
The U.S. Treasury Department said:
“People who called for help reported being beaten, abused with electric shocks, made to pay a hefty ransom, or threatened with being sold to other online scam gangs.”
It was evidence like this that led to the U.S. sanctioning Ly Yong Phat and his LYP Group in September of 2024. Additionally, the company has alleged links to human trafficking and forced labor at several casinos in Cambodia.
Sadly, O-Smach and the other “casinos” are part of a vast network of human trafficking channels in the region. Every year over 150,000 people fall victim to trafficking in Southeast Asia. Significantly, most of that takes place in Myanmar and Cambodia. And just like the escaped workers, many are trapped inside gated compounds and forced to work. Survivors report being forced to try and swindle people on messaging apps or through phone calls. Shockingly, sometimes for as long as 16 hours a day. And for those that don’t meet the daily quota, beatings and torture await.
Cambodian government wants to keep compounds under wraps
Tellingly, the same month the U.S. put sanctions on Ly Yong Phat and his LYP Group, award-winning Cambodian journalist Mech Dara was arrested by local police. To the horror of the government, Dara’s journalism exposed cyber slavery and corruption in Cambodia. And his investigations and reporting on cyberscam compounds like O-Smach shone a light on this new form of human trafficking. Significantly, the Cambodian government now wants to silence him. He was released on bail in October but still faces charges and potentially up to two years in jail.
Help stop these compounds from hiding and stand with us in calling for the charges to be dropped so Mech Dara can continue to exposing the evils of places like O-Smach. Because calling out criminal behavior and modern slavery shouldn’t cost someone else their freedom.
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