‘I was a slave’: Up to 100,000 held captive by cybercriminals in Cambodia

Lured to Cambodia by the promise of legitimate employment, tens of thousands of foreigners are instead forced to run online and telephone rackets targeting people around the world with gambling, money lending and romance schemes, to name a few. Other scams have included fake real estate developments and bogus initial coin offerings. — AFP

The hustle started like it often does, with a post on Facebook promising job seekers generously paid customer service positions in Cambodia, no experience necessary.

Soraton Charehkphunpol, a Thai cook scraping by in a restaurant in Bangkok, couldn’t resist the offer to earn more than double his US$470 (RM2,228) monthly salary.