Dozens of South Koreans detained in Cambodia for alleged involvement in online scam compounds will be sent home this week to face investigations, officials said, in what would be the largest group reparation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad.
The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (RM134mil), according to the statement yesterday.
The suspects, 65 men and eight women, were among about 260 South Koreans detained in a crackdown in Cambodia in recent months.
Public outrage over scam centres in South-East Asia flared in South Korea when a student was found dead last summer after reportedly being forced to work at a scam compound in Cambodia.
Authorities said he died after being tortured and beaten, and South Korea sent a government delegation in October for talks on a joint response.
South Korea will send a chartered plane to Cambodia, which is expected to return today with the suspects, who will be immediately handed over to investigative authorities upon their arrival.
Cybercrime has flourished in South-East Asia, particularly in Cambodia and Myanmar , as trafficked foreign nationals were employed to run romance and cryptocurrency scams, often recruited with false job offers and then forced to work in conditions of near-slavery.
According to estimates from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, scam victims worldwide lost between US$18bil and US$37bil in 2023. — AP
