A Thai man forced to take part in online scams in Cambodia talks about his experience during an interview in Bangkok in October.
7:00 JST, December 31, 2022
BANGKOK/HANOI – Young people from Southeast Asia who lost jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic are falling victim to human traffickers and are being forced to commit crimes by Chinese scammers, according to an organization helping victims.
In exclusive interviews with The Yomiuri Shimbun, two such victims from Thailand and Vietnam detailed the abuse they suffered and spoke about the shame they felt at becoming the perpetrators of crimes.
From late 2021 until June this year, Nop (not his real name), who lives in Sukhothai in northern Thailand, was forced to take part in online scams at a casino run by a Chinese national in Cambodia. “All I thought about was going back home,” recalled Nop, 40.
Nop quit his job after his mother’s health declined but he struggled to find other work during the pandemic until a job listing on Facebook caught his eye. The position was in the administration department of a casino in Cambodia and came with a monthly salary of $1,000 (about ¥130,000) plus free accommodation and meals. The ad said the business was legal. Nop quickly decided to apply.
After Nop was made to wait for several hours at a house near the Thailand-Cambodia border, a Chinese national and a Thai national who appeared to be in charge of the…
