A Tainan teenager was tricked into flying to Cambodia for a job opportunity in April of this year (2022). Upon arrival in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, his passport was taken by the company. And he was forced to work in an online romance and investment scam. If he refuse to cooperate with the company or underperform, he would be punched, kicked or even electrically shocked (tasered) by his supervisors. As he was not willing to cooperate, he was asked to pack up and leave, with the company claiming he had been sold to another Burmese fraud ring. The human smuggling syndicate left Cambodia in the middle of the night and transferred to Myanmar via Thailand. The teenager managed to escape during the ride and immediately contacted the Criminal Investigation Bureau's (CIB) liaison officer in Thailand.
Upon receiving the report, CIB’s liaison officer in Thailand immediately activated the citizen emergency relief procedures and provided assistance through various channels. Since the teenager was smuggled into Thailand from Cambodia by a human smuggling syndicate, the CIB arranged for the teenager's return to Taiwan after the police liaison officer in Thailand assisted and sheltered him and handled the relevant Thai immigration regulations and completed the Thai judicial procedures. On August 5, 2022, the teenager arrived safely in Taiwan. He was escorted by the Third District of the Tainan City Police Department for initial questioning and clarification of his domestic recruitment experience.
The teenager was beaten on the back and head with a wooden chair and suffered lacerations to the head when he refused to cooperate in a fraudulent scheme at Sihanoukville, Cambodia. He was then resold multiple times and forcibly trafficked to Myanmar with people of other nationalities by a human smuggling syndicate. The group was first smuggled to Thailand and the teenager took advantage of a break to escape and immediately contacted the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand, which immediately activated rescue mechanisms and successfully rescued and returned the teenager back to Taiwan.
Recently, there have been numerous cases of Taiwanese people being tricked into going to Cambodia and having restrictions on personal freedom imposed. The tactics used are often to advertise high-paying jobs on social media or Facebook groups, or to lure victims out of the country through close acquaintances asking the victims to repay their debts and having to go to Cambodia or Thailand to work and repay their debts or by inviting them to Cambodia or Thailand for a trip with meals and accommodation covered. Once out of the country, the victims movements are immediately controlled and are required to work in scam rings; if victims do not comply, they will be beaten, electrically shocked and even sold to different "industry parks."
The CIB hereby urges the public to be aware that human smuggling syndicates can make profits simply by sending people abroad. Criminal groups have changed the conventional way of recruiting by advertising "customer service in gambling industry" and have extended their tentacles to the introduction of overseas jobs in various industries, even to close acquaintances of victims that lure people abroad by asking them to work abroad to repay debts or take all-expenses paid trips. The summer vacation is the peak season for job hunting and travel; students who have just left school should be more cautious when looking for jobs on the Internet and when receiving invitations from acquaintances in order to avoid becoming a target of human trafficking.
