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READ: Part 1 | Fake profiles, real victims: Inside a Cambodian compound targeting Americans
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – “You guys cannot go back to Indonesia, you will die here,” Kiki recalled her Chinese supervisor telling her daily during her 3.5-month ordeal trapped in a Cambodian scam compound.
“Every day was filled with screaming. Women weren’t hit, but they constantly screamed in our ears,” she said. “I saw my friend get electrocuted, people getting hit. This was the first time I saw people get hit badly.”
Desperate to escape heartbreak after a divorce, Kiki, a 28-year-old singer from Batam Island, Indonesia, sought a fresh start in Cambodia. Instead, she found herself ensnared in a web of deceit and abuse.
A deceptive Facebook ad promising a call center job led her to a dangerous scam operation in Poipet, a Western border town with Thailand, where she endured psychological torment and witnessed horrific violence.
After 3.5 months, Kiki was among 27 Indonesians rescued in May 2024. With the help of the International Justice Mission (IJM), she bravely shared her experience, using the pseudonym Kiki for her safety.
Poipet, about 400 kilometers from the capital Phnom Penh, has become a notorious hot spot for criminal enterprises, said University Sains Malaysia’s Cybersecurity Research Centre Director Professor Dr Selvakumar Manickam.
Manickam said that in Cambodia, Sihanoukville and border areas, including Bavet, the Eastern border town with Vietnam, and Poipet have a lot of online scam compounds. These locations, often linked to casinos, have a degree of lawlessness that these syndicates exploit.
“These locations offer a combination of factors: proximity to borders, which facilitates the movement of people and money; weak law enforcement; and the presence of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) that operate with less oversight.
“Many compounds also masquerade as legitimate businesses, such as casinos or online gaming operators, further complicating efforts to shut them down.”
A Facebook ad promising a stress-free call center job in Cambodia with a monthly salary of $800 lured Kiki. The job, which involved helping people borrow money through an app, seemed like the perfect escape from her recent heartbreak.
Kiki was asked to submit a video interview in English and Bahasa Indonesia, and participate in a typing test.
Kiki’s journey to Cambodia began on February 28, 2024, with a flight from Batam Island to Jakarta, followed by transfers to Bali and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. She was accompanied by another Indonesian man, and they met four other men and a woman named Silvia, in Bali.
After landing in Ho Chi Minh City, the group was transported by van to Bavet, Cambodia, where Silvia handled their passports at the border checkpoint. They then continued to Phnom Penh, where they met Stephen, an Indonesian manager who assured them the job was legitimate.
The next day, Stephen drove them to Poipet, a journey that took eight long hours. They arrived late on March 1 and stayed in a hotel before finally reaching the unnamed company compound on March 2.
‘The leader’
The operation was run by a Chinese man known as the “leader,” a tall, imposing figure who instilled fear in the workers. Kiki and the others were forced to surrender their mobile phones, isolating them within the multiple building compound. Kiki lived in a dormitory with workers from various countries, including Vietnam, Malaysia, India, and Africa.
“On the second day, we started training. The leader gave us two papers with a script. The script was to scam people.
“This company scammed Indonesians. The script is in Indonesian language and the script is that I scam people,” Kiki said.
Kiki worked as a scammer, impersonating a customer service agent for a telecommunications company. She would cold-call Indonesian numbers, using a script to deceive people into believing they owed money. If victims refused to pay, another scammer posing as a police officer would threaten them.
“I had customers crying. They were scared because we really pushed them to pay. It’s so horrible.” She added, “A lot of people got scammed. I have a couple of customers who paid the company. They paid thousands of dollars.”
‘It’s not easy’
Kiki said that everyone had a target to scam five customers a day.
“It’s not easy, we don’t have any experience, we’ve never tricked people. It’s hard to get five customers per day. If we don’t reach the target, the next day, I have to stand for 12 hours while working from 8.30 am until 6 pm,” she said.
Kiki added that she never received the salary the agency promised, earning only around $300 per month.
‘Our boss sent us to the street’
Without news from Kiki for some time, her family grew suspicious and filed a report with the Indonesian embassy in Phnom Penh.
Kiki’s sister is married to a police officer in Indonesia, which led to her rescue. After the leader knew that the police were coming, the group of Indonesians was transported out of the compound and dropped off in the middle of nowhere in Poipet.
Before the rescue, the Indonesians asked the Chinese leader if they could pray in one room after mentioning that Kiki’s mother passed away. At the time, they were able to take a group photo and send it to her fiancé who sent it to the embassy.
“My boss knew that my family had reported to the embassy and told me to pack up to move to another place,” Kiki said. They were taken to a new three-story building which was not near any residential area. It was filled with scam companies.
Upon request, the leader gave them a phone and they were able to share the location with the embassy.
The leader knew that the embassy and the police were coming the next day and asked them to go to the road.
“Our boss told us to pack and sent us to the street. He already knew we reported to the embassy and wanted to throw us out. They didn’t want us to be in the office anymore.”
They were moved out at 1 am and separated into three groups. They got back their phones but the contacts list had been removed.
She downloaded Instagram to connect with the others in other groups and found a restaurant to charge their phones. She managed to get a Cambodian SIM card.
At 5 am, they found a hotel in Poipet and planned to travel to Phnom Penh by bus. She received many calls but did not pick up.
Safe at last
“When we got to the bus, the police arrived and they asked for my passport. I was screaming at the time. ‘Where is the embassy? Then, one of the police officers talked to me and said we are safe and were taken to the police station,” Kiki narrated.
The Indonesian embassy in Phnom Penh issued a statement regarding the case, saying it appreciated Cambodian authorities’ efforts in addressing the matter involving Indonesians.
They inspected suspected locations, secured affected individuals, granted the victims access to the embassy and processed their repatriation to Indonesia.
“Nevertheless, challenges persist, most likely because of the sheer number of foreign nationals involved and the complexities surrounding scam operations, which are orchestrated by international networks,” the embassy said.
It added that the challenges need to be addressed by enhancing collaboration among relevant stakeholders in Cambodia, Indonesia and other impacted countries.
The embassy said it engages with international organizations and NGOs, such as International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Caritas and International Justice Mission (IJM), on issues of human trafficking and how best to serve and protect Indonesians. – Rappler.com
