By Fatma Younis
A 33-year-old Ghanaian man spent almost a year in Cambodia after being lured by a fake receptionist job offer, only to be forced into an online scam operation where he endured beatings and torture before police raids freed him.
Recruitment and captivity
The man, a university graduate who struggled to support his family of four in Ghana, accepted an offer from a Chinese company in Cambodia promising $1,000 a month with accommodation and food. Upon arrival in November 2025, his passport and phone were seized, and he was pressured to sign a two-year contract. He was trained as a "chatter" to solicit victims online for fraud schemes.
When he realized the work was a scam and refused to participate, his captors demanded $6,000 for his release. He said he was beaten daily for a month with fists, a bat, and tasers, leaving him unable to grip with his left hand after his wrist was broken.
Nationwide crackdown
Cambodian police raided the scam center in January 2026 as part of a nationwide campaign to shut down criminal operations. Cambodia had at least 182 confirmed scam locations, with evidence of roughly 300, according to CyberScamMonitor. The crackdown intensified in late 2025 after international pressure following the death of a South Korean student and U.S. indictments of a Chinese-born founder behind a massive cryptocurrency scam.
Despite closing dozens of centers, Cambodia has not prosecuted the criminal operatives or the political and business elites who facilitated them, including senior politicians and relatives of Prime Minister Hun Manet, according to the U.S. Congress.
Humanitarian crisis after raids
Tens of thousands of former workers ended up in Phnom Penh, many sleeping on streets and facing police harassment. More than 10 months later, hundreds remain stranded. Li Ling of the Eos Collective, a nonprofit investigating human trafficking, said the government treats migrants from scam centers as offenders without adequate screening for trafficking indicators. Her organization has helped 220 workers return home.
Cambodian Information Minister Neth Pheaktra said all individuals are screened to separate victims from perpetrators, with victims receiving protection and assistance for safe return, but provided no evidence of such a process.
Struggles to return home
Workers who could afford flights left quickly, but thousands wanted to go home without means or help from their governments. The Ghanaian man slept on streets in Phnom Penh, at times going without food for days. Ugandan worker Henry Kyeyune also slept outdoors for months before seeking shelter at Caritas, a Catholic charity that was the only refuge after the government banned housing for ex-workers.
China repatriated more than 20,000 workers by June 2026, Vietnam received over 1,700 in the first half of the year, and Indonesia reported 12,940 requests for help with 700 still stuck. Uganda's ambassador to Malaysia, Betty O. Bigombe, helped more than 1,000 former workers, mostly Ugandans but also Africans from other countries.
Detention and release
Changing government policies created obstacles: many workers lacked passports, faced visa fines, and were required to undergo immigration interviews to leave. Police roundups sent ex-workers to detention centers. Kyeyune was held for two weeks at a police station, then a week at Mango 2 detention center before Bigombe secured his flight home.
The Ghanaian man was also detained at Mango 2 for two weeks before being taken to the airport in handcuffs on October 14 with a ticket provided by the Eos Collective. His father died while he was in Cambodia, and he said he failed his duty to help bury him. Back in Ghana, he cannot afford travel to his family's home or even phone data. "I'm still not safe yet," he wrote in a text message.
