Koreans linked to alleged online scams in Cambodia arrive home to face
inquiries
[October 18, 2025] By
HYUNG-JIN KIM and SOPHENG CHEANG
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in
online scams in Cambodia arrived in South Korea on a chartered flight
Saturday to face criminal investigations.
The repatriation follows the death of a South Korean student who was
reportedly forced to work in a scam center in Cambodia. His death
triggered public outrage in South Korea, prompting the government to
send a delegation to the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, for talks on
joint responses.
Cambodian Interior Ministry spokesperson Touch Sokhak said earlier that
64 South Koreans were to be repatriated from Cambodia late Friday. After
their chartered plane landed at South Korea’s Incheon International
Airport on Saturday morning, the returnees were seen in handcuffs, each
escorted by police officers on both sides, as they were led to a parking
area where security vehicles were waiting to transport them.
Most of the repatriated South Koreans were detained in Cambodia during
crackdowns on scam centers and will face police investigations at home,
Seoul’s national security director Wi Sung-lac said. Authorities are
likely seeking to determine whether they had willingly joined the
organizations or were forced to work after being lured by false job ads.
Scam centers in Cambodia are estimated to have about 200,000 workers,
including 1,000 South Koreans, according to South Korean officials.
Online scams have risen sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic and produced
two sets of victims — those forced to work as scammers under the threat
of violence, and the targets of their fraud via bogus investment
pitches, illegal gambling schemes and even romantic ploys. Monitoring
groups say online scams earn international criminal gangs billions of
dollars annually.
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South Koreans, wearing caps, allegedly involved in online scams in
Cambodia arrive at the Incheon International Airport, in Incheon,
Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. (Yonhap via AP)
 A South Korean travel ban came into
effect Thursday for parts of Cambodia, including Bokor Mountain in
Kampot province, where the South Korean student was found dead.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet has requested the restrictions
are eased, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Friday ordered authorities
to take urgent action to try to remove illegal advertisements for
jobs not only in Cambodia but also across Southeast Asia.
Online scam centers were previously concentrated in Southeast Asian
countries including Cambodia and Myanmar, with most of the
trafficked and other workers coming from Asia. But an Interpol
report in June said the past three years have seen victims
trafficked to Southeast Asia from distant regions including South
America, Western Europe and Eastern Africa and that new centers have
been reported in the Middle East, West Africa and Central America.
___
Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report
from Seoul. Cheang reported from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
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