Dozens of S’Korean scammers repatriated from Cambodia
Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online fraud in Cambodia have returned to South Korea to face investigations into the incident, the largest repatriation of criminal suspects from abroad.
According to the statement made by the South Korean government, 73 South Korean suspects allegedly defrauded their citizens of 48.6 billion won ($48 million).
When they arrived at South Korea’s Incheon airport on a chartered plane on Friday, the suspects, 65 men and 8 women, were sent to police stations.
Local TV footage showed handcuffed and masked suspects being escorted by police officers and buses.
They were among about 260 South Koreans detained in a crackdown in Cambodia in recent months.
“When it comes to crimes that harm our people, we will pursue and arrest those involved in these crimes to the end and make them face relevant consequences,” senior police officer Yoo Seung Ryul said at a televised briefing at the airport.
Public anger over fraud centers in Southeast Asia was sparked in South Korea last summer when a Korean student was found dead after reportedly being forced to work at a fraud facility in Cambodia.
Officials said he died after being tortured and beaten, and that South Korea sent a government delegation to Cambodia in October to discuss a joint response.
The suspects repatriated on Friday include a couple who allegedly ran a deepfake romance scam to defraud nearly 100 people of 12 billion won ($12.0 million) in fake investment schemes.
South Korea made several efforts to bring them back home, including more than 10 video calls with Cambodian officials, the Justice Department said in a statement.
At the airport briefing, senior Foreign Ministry official Yoo Byung-seok expressed gratitude to the Cambodian government for Friday’s repatriation.
He said South Korea hopes to maintain close bilateral coordination until online scams targeting South Koreans are eliminated in Cambodia.
Cybercrime has flourished in Southeast Asia, particularly in Cambodia and Myanmar, with trafficked foreign nationals employed for romance and cryptocurrency scams, often after being recruited with fake job offers and then forced to work in conditions bordering on slavery.
Globally, fraud victims stand to lose between US$18 billion ($26 billion) and $37 billion ($54 billion) in 2023, according to estimates from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
In January, Cambodia said it had arrested and extradited to China a businessman accused of running a massive online fraud operation.
Nearly 130 South Korean fraud suspects have been repatriated from Cambodia since October, as well as more than 20 Korean suspects from Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines.
Following Friday’s repatriation, approximately 60 South Koreans will remain detained in Cambodia awaiting repatriation, according to police.
South Korean officials said in October that it was estimated that there were about 1,000 South Koreans in fraud centers in Cambodia.
Some are believed to have been forced into labor.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday called for a harsh response to transnational cybercrime, which he said has eroded mutual trust in society and triggered diplomatic disputes with other countries.
