Another 109 Bangladeshi nationals who fell victim to human trafficking and cyber scam syndicates in Cambodia have returned home. Their arrival brings the total number of Bangladeshis repatriated from Cambodia to 583 during June following a series of rescue operations.
They arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 1:25am on Wednesday aboard a Thai Airways flight.
According to BRAC’s Migration Programme, a total of 362 Bangladeshis have returned from Cambodia over the past four days.
Shariful Islam, deputy director of the Migrant Welfare Desk at BRAC, told TIMES of Bangladesh that the Bangladeshis had been forced to work for illegal Chinese-run companies in Cambodia.
He said the victims had initially been lured to Cambodia with promises of legitimate employment but were later compelled to work for scam companies. According to BRAC, these companies were operated by Chinese criminal networks that forced Bangladeshis to carry out cyber fraud targeting victims mainly in the United States and Canada.
Following recent communication between the United States government and the Cambodian authorities, Cambodia launched a crackdown on illegal cyber scam operations. After many of the Chinese operators fled, arrangements were made to repatriate the stranded Bangladeshi nationals.
Upon arrival at the airport, the returnees received emergency assistance, psychosocial support and financial assistance for their journey home through a joint initiative of the Civil Aviation Security Department, the Migrant Welfare Desk and BRAC’s Migration Programme.
According to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), 15,921 Bangladeshis have travelled to Cambodia for employment over the past one and a half years. However, those who have returned claim that several thousand more Bangladeshis remain trapped there under inhumane conditions after falling victim to similar trafficking and fraud schemes.
BRAC said traffickers primarily target jobseekers through fake recruitment advertisements for positions such as computer operators, call centre executives and customer service officers on fraudulent websites, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, email and other online platforms. Victims are then taken abroad and forced at gunpoint to participate in cyber fraud operations.
Trafficked under the cover of tourist visas
According to investigations and testimonies from survivors, local trafficking networks recruit young people through attractive advertisements for IT jobs circulated on Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram. Victims are then sent to Cambodia on tourist visas after paying substantial sums of money.
The traffickers reportedly use special code words to help victims pass through airport procedures. Upon arrival in Cambodia, their passports are confiscated and they are confined inside heavily guarded “technology parks” surrounded by barbed wire and armed security.
After their visas expire, the victims become undocumented migrants and are held hostage in underground camps operated by various Chinese criminal syndicates. They are then forced at gunpoint to carry out cyber scams targeting citizens of the United States and Canada, including cryptocurrency fraud, fake online dating schemes and sports betting scams conducted through illicit online platforms.
Survivors said those who failed to meet daily cyber fraud targets or refused to participate in the illegal activities were subjected to severe abuse. They were reportedly taken to torture cells in Sihanoukville or Phnom Penh, where they were held in dark rooms for days, deprived of food, beaten with sticks and given electric shocks.
According to the returnees, the traffickers also recorded videos of the abuse and sent them to victims’ families in Bangladesh to extort ransom payments. Those whose families failed to pay were allegedly sold as “slaves” to other scam companies operating in Cambodia.
