
Seoul, South Korea — SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Authorities are seeking to formally arrest most of them 64 South Koreans return to their homeland From Cambodia allegedly working for Online scam The organizations are in Cambodia, police said on Monday.
The 64 South Koreans were detained in Cambodia over the past few months and were flown to Korea on a chartered plane on Saturday. Upon their arrival in South Korea, they were detained while police investigated whether they had voluntarily joined fraud organizations in Cambodia or were forced to work there.
Online scamsmany of which are located in Southeast Asian countries, have risen sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic and produced two sets of victims: tens of thousands of people forced to work as scammers under the threat of violence, and the targets of their scams. Online fraud earns international criminal gangs billions of dollars annually, watchdog groups say.
The Korean National Police Agency said in a statement that prosecutors asked local courts to issue arrest warrants for 58 of the 64 returnees, at the request of the police. Police said the people they are seeking are accused of engaging in online fraud activities such as romance scams, fake investment or voice phishing, apparently targeting their South Korean compatriots at home. The courts are expected to determine whether to approve their detention in the coming days.
The police said that five people had been released, but refused to reveal the reasons for their release, stressing that investigations are still ongoing.
South Korean police said four of the 64 returnees told investigators they were beaten while being held in fraud centers in Cambodia against their will.
South Korea is facing public calls to take stronger measures to protect its citizens from being forced into online fraud centers abroad, after one of its citizens was defrauded. Found dead In Cambodia in August. He was reportedly lured by a friend to travel to Cambodia to provide his bank account for use by a fraud organisation. Authorities in Cambodia said the 22-year-old university student had been tortured.
The United Nations and other international agencies estimate that at least 100,000 people have been trafficked to fraud centers in Cambodia, with a similar number in Myanmar and tens of thousands in other countries.
Officials in Seoul estimate that about 1,000 South Koreans are in fraud centers in Cambodia, and last week, South Korean authorities imposed a travel ban on parts of Cambodia and sent a government delegation to Cambodia to discuss joint steps.
Online fraud centers It was previously concentrated in Southeast Asian countries including Cambodia and Myanmar, with most trafficked and other workers coming from Asia. But an Interpol report in June said the past three years had seen victims trafficked to Southeast Asia from as far away as South America, Western Europe and East Africa, with new hubs also reported in the Middle East, West Africa and Central America.