South Korea has implemented a travel ban for its citizens to specific areas in Cambodia due to a surge in kidnappings linked to cyber-scam operations.
The ban comes amid a major international crackdown on Southeast Asian cyber-scam networks that has outed Cambodia as a hub for forced-labor crypto fraud operations, forcing the US Treasury Department, in coordination with the UK, to expose and sanction the Cambodian conglomerates tied to the operation, leading to asset seizures and indictments.
The travel ban came into effect this week
According to reports, the multiple abductions or forcible confinement of 330 South Korean nationals by criminal gangs in the first eight months of this year is the rationale behind the South Korean government’s recent steps.
Many of those who were kidnapped have had to work in prison-like complexes where they run online scams targeting people around the world.
The travel ban was enforced this week and applies to several areas, including Bokor Mountain in Cambodia’s Kampot Province, where they found the body of a South Korean student who had allegedly been held captive and tortured by a local crime group.
According to South Korea’s national security adviser Wi Sung-lac, the online scam industry operating out of Cambodia now reportedly employs around 200,000 people of mixed nationalities, and the number of Koreans among them is thought to be around 1,000 individuals, though it could be more.
Wi also mentioned that there are peculiar cases among the victims. For instance, some of the South Korean nationals working at the Cambodian cyber-scam compounds were not abducted or lured. Apparently, some people went to Cambodia voluntarily and became involved in criminal activity, but when they attempted to return later on, they were not allowed.
“In a sense, they are both victims and offenders at the same time,” Wi said.
Seoul has now dispatched an inter-agency delegation to Phnom Penh to address the mounting diplomatic crisis.
Cambodia’s prime minister Hun Manet has allegedly expressed “regret and sorrow” over the tragedy of the South Korean student, and promised to do even more to “arrest the suspects currently at large and to protect South Korean nationals in Cambodia.”
Unfortunately, such statements could be seen as an attempt to save face, as there are reports that imply the Cambodian government may be looking the other way.
Not only have there been allusions to possible collusion between Chinese compound bosses and the Cambodian police, but the country’s police have also refused to shut down compounds despite the slew of human rights abuses linked to them.
The man behind the cyber scam centers remains at large
Operations conducted by the cyber scam centers are reportedly assisted by artificial intelligence tools such as face-swapping and chatbots, and these operations include so-called “pig-butchering scams”, where fraudsters gain the trust of victims often via the promise of a romantic relationship.
After gaining trust, they get the victims to invest in fraudulent schemes or assets that the US government estimates have cost Americans at least $10 billion as of 2024, a 66% increase on the previous year.
UN experts this year even had to warn of a “humanitarian and human rights crisis” over “large-scale trafficking in persons for purposes of forced labour and forced criminality in scam compounds across south-east Asia”.
On Wednesday, the UK and US governments announced plans to impose sanctions on the Prince Group, a Cambodian network accused of running these criminal cyber-scam facilities.
The sanctions have included an asset freeze on London properties with an estimated value of £130 million, and among them was a residential property in St John’s Wood belonging to Prince Group chair Chen Zhi.
Zhi has been described as a “38-year-old Chinese émigré who has since renounced his Chinese citizenship and has built a business empire in Cambodia through the Prince Group”.
According to an indictment unsealed in New York on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, Chen and several associates are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in a case that involves 127,271 Bitcoins, valued at about $15 billion. The forfeiture is now in U.S. custody and surpasses all previous cryptocurrency seizures by the DOJ.
Zhi is also accused of establishing a Singapore family office, DW Capital, which allegedly laundered billions in cryptocurrency through fraudulent investment schemes.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is reportedly now investigating DW Capital for potential breaches related to a 13X tax incentive it received, amid concerns over oversight gaps.
It plans to delay the release of new rules on how banks handle crypto assets until 2027, reflecting the need for careful consideration of regulatory frameworks in light of the recent scandals.
As the case unfolds, Chen, who faces up to 40 years behind bars on the combined fraud and money-laundering charges, remains at large.
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