South Korea Arrests 49 After Cambodia Scam Repatriations as Police Examine Trafficking Claims

64 returnees face scrutiny over fraud and forced work

South Korean courts have approved arrest warrants for 49 of the 64 citizens flown home from Cambodia after a crackdown on online scam operations, while decisions remain pending for 10 others. Five people have been released as investigations continue. Four returnees told police they were beaten while confined in Cambodian scam compounds and forced to work against their will.

As of October 24, 2025, investigators face two connected tasks: identifying people who knowingly helped defraud victims and establishing who was trapped by traffickers. Those findings will shape criminal charges and access to protection for people subjected to forced labor.

A charter flight carrying the 64 South Koreans landed at Incheon over the weekend. Police took the group into custody and transferred them to local investigative units. Officers had obtained warrants in advance and escorted the suspects from the aircraft in handcuffs.

The repatriations followed months of enforcement action and growing public anger over the death of a South Korean college student aged 22 in Cambodia in August. Cambodian authorities said he had been tortured. His death brought renewed attention to networks that use false job offers to recruit workers, confine them through threats and violence, and make them target people around the world.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry says about 1,000 South Korean nationals are believed to be in Cambodian scam centers. Monitoring groups estimate that the international criminal networks behind such schemes generate billions of dollars each year. The surge in online fraud since the COVID-19 pandemic has left authorities confronting both financial crime and trafficking within the same operations.

What police are investigating

Police have linked the returnees to several types of alleged fraud: voice phishing calls that impersonate officials, romance scams built around false relationships, fraudulent investment pitches, and schemes described as no show scams, in which payments or reservations are collected before the perpetrators disappear. Many alleged plots targeted people in South Korea, although the networks operate internationally.

Regional police units are handling the cases, which cover alleged activity from late last year through the summer. Investigators expect digital evidence from devices seized in Cambodia to help establish individual responsibilities, identify supervisors and trace money moving through the networks.

All 64 returnees underwent drug tests, and every result was negative, police said. Their investigations are also examining how each person was recruited, what work they performed inside the compounds and whom they contacted further up the chain of command.

South Korean National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said the group included people who joined willingly and others who were forced. He said a large share nevertheless faced criminal scrutiny.

"Most of them should be regarded as having committed criminal acts," Wi said.

Four returnees' accounts of confinement and beatings put the issue of coercion directly before investigators. South Korean law punishes fraud and related offenses while also recognizing victims of trafficking and forced labor who were compelled to commit crimes. Police and prosecutors must assess the circumstances of each person.

From arrest on the aircraft to court review

South Korean officials had sent a team to Cambodia days before the flight to coordinate action against scam centers. Under South Korean law, an aircraft operated by a national carrier can be treated as Korean territory, allowing officers to execute the warrants obtained beforehand and immediately arrest suspects for questioning.

The arrangement helped police prevent suspects from dispersing on arrival and protect digital evidence that might otherwise have been erased during the transfer. After the flight landed, officers moved the returnees into the domestic investigative process.

Investigators seeking continued detention must present reasons to a court, typically including the risk of flight, possible destruction of evidence or the seriousness of the alleged crimes. Courts approved warrants for 49 returnees, leaving 10 decisions pending. Police have not disclosed details about the five people released, citing continuing investigations.

Those held under court warrants face questioning about recruitment, duties inside the compounds and links to managers. Prosecutors are likely to consider fraud, violations of telecommunications and financial laws, and money laundering, which involves moving criminal proceeds through transactions or assets to disguise their origin.

Medical examinations, communications records and testimony from other detainees can help authorities assess claims of coercion. Where the evidence supports those accounts, a person initially investigated as a suspect may instead be treated as a trafficking victim.

The death that intensified pressure in Seoul

The killing of the South Korean student in southern Cambodia in August sharpened demands for stronger intervention. He had reportedly been lured by a friend to provide a bank account to a scam operation. Cambodian authorities said his body showed signs of torture.

His death connected the danger of recruitment to the wider fraud industry in a way that intensified public anger in South Korea. Political pressure grew for more rescues and a stronger response to criminal groups operating abroad.

Park Chan-dae, a South Korean lawmaker who helped bring home citizens in their twenties and thirties earlier this year, described the economic pressures that can make risky job offers attractive.

"What is intertwined here is desperate young people with a lack of economic opportunities," Park said.

The main developments span several periods:

• From late last year through the summer, alleged scam activity later assigned to regional South Korean police units took place.
• Earlier this year, Park helped bring home South Koreans in their twenties and thirties.
• In August, the student aged 22 was found dead in southern Cambodia, with authorities saying he had been tortured.
• Days before the weekend repatriation, South Korea dispatched officials to Cambodia for coordinated action.
• Over the weekend before October 24, the charter flight brought 64 citizens to Incheon, where police took them into custody.

The sequence shows how rescue efforts, investigations and diplomatic action have developed alongside one another, with the student's death bringing greater urgency to the response.

How the scams take money

Romance investment fraud, often called pig butchering, can begin with weeks or months of conversation on social media or messaging apps. A scammer presents themselves as a trustworthy friend or potential partner, shares supposed investment knowledge and gradually encourages the target to put money into a platform controlled by the criminals.

Once the victim has committed substantial funds, the money is taken and the contacts disappear. Many such operations use cryptocurrency, allowing funds to move quickly through digital wallets and mixers, services that obscure where money came from and where it goes.

Voice phishing uses a different form of pressure. Callers pretend to be bank employees, tax officials or police officers and demand account details or transfers for supposed emergencies or investigations. The aim is to make a victim act before they have time to check the story.

Large buildings can accommodate the infrastructure for these operations: reliable internet connections, workers following scripts, supervisors monitoring calls and recruiters bringing in more people. A single compound can run romance investment traps, payment fraud and corporate impersonation schemes side by side.

Supervisors can impose quotas on workers. People who miss targets may face fines, beatings or isolation. For investigators, examining the calls and transfers alongside conditions inside the compounds is necessary to establish both the fraud against people sending money and the treatment of those made to contact them.

Recruitment can lead to confinement

Recruiters approach potential workers through messaging apps and job sites, advertising customer support, cryptocurrency trading or technology roles with attractive pay. Some recruits are asked for deposits, told to surrender passports for visa processing or offered travel paid for by the recruiter.

After arrival, passports and phones can be confiscated. Workers may be taken to guarded compounds, placed under constant surveillance and threatened with violence. Recruiters or managers can also claim that workers owe debts, using those demands and isolation to stop them leaving.

United Nations estimates indicate that at least 100,000 people have been sent to scam compounds in Cambodia, with a similar number in Myanmar and tens of thousands more in other countries. Many describe being drawn in by promises of well paid jobs before having their passports taken and being forced to work under threats of beatings or worse.

Interpol has warned that trafficking into scam operations now draws victims from beyond Asia, including South America, Western Europe and Eastern Africa. Investigators have also tracked new scam operations to the Middle East, West Africa and Central America.

Families are advised to watch for abrupt travel plans tied to jobs without a clear contract or identifiable employer, and requests for money supposedly needed for visa fees. Embassies advise against sending passport scans or transferring money to unknown recruiters.

Relatives of someone who disappears abroad should contact police and consular services promptly and gather messages and location information that could support a rescue. South Korean lawmakers say several rescues succeeded because people trapped inside compounds secretly shared their live locations.

Seoul expands travel restrictions and consular support

South Korea has imposed a code black travel ban for parts of Cambodia following a rise in kidnappings and detentions. The measures are intended to deter travel into known scam corridors while authorities expand assistance for citizens already in danger.

A joint task force involving diplomats, police and intelligence officials visited Phnom Penh to coordinate operations. Its work included establishing channels for rapid evidence sharing and a system to notify South Korean authorities quickly when Cambodian police detain their nationals.

The Foreign Ministry also plans to increase consular staffing to handle more trafficking and missing person cases. Those staff support citizens and families while police investigate recruitment networks, managers and alleged fraud.

South Korean officials say Cambodian police recently detained about 10 more South Koreans over suspected scam activity and rescued two people being held in compounds. The 12 are expected to be flown home for investigation. Police in Seoul say they will examine each case to identify victims and offenders and pursue the recruiters and managers behind the operations.

Those efforts bring together two immediate needs: reaching people who cannot leave the compounds and obtaining evidence against the people who organize and profit from the fraud.

Cambodia widens raids across 18 provinces

Cambodian authorities say their broader crackdown has covered 92 sites across 18 provinces in recent months, detaining thousands of people from many countries. Many detainees were identified as trafficking victims and deported, while several dozen alleged masterminds have faced formal charges.

In one operation, police detained 57 additional South Koreans and 29 Chinese nationals and seized 126 laptops and 30 mobile phones. Raids have continued around Phnom Penh and across multiple provinces, exposing operations in which people of different nationalities work inside the same compounds.

Cambodia has become a major hub for scam centers operating on an industrial scale. Many developed from business parks and casino districts that shifted into illicit activity during the pandemic. Police have found large quantities of computers, smartphones and scripts used to run the schemes.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet publicly backed closer cooperation after meeting a visiting South Korean delegation. In a social media post, he described the two governments' commitment.

"Cambodia and the Republic of Korea will continue to strengthen our collaboration to prevent, suppress, and combat online scams more effectively," Hun Manet said.

Touch Sokhak, spokesman for Cambodia's Interior Ministry, also attributed the mass return of suspects to joint enforcement work.

"The repatriation agreement was the result of good cooperation in suppression of scams," Touch Sokhak said.

Sanctions target the money behind the compounds

The United States and the United Kingdom have announced sanctions against Prince Group, a business network based in Cambodia. They allege that it operates scam centers across Southeast Asia and launders the proceeds through property and other business fronts.

British authorities have seized properties in London linked to the network. Officials say Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi faces charges including wire fraud and money laundering and remains at large.

The measures seek to restrict the networks' access to money and warn companies or officials accused of helping them operate. Targeting property and other assets also gives investigators routes to follow proceeds beyond the compounds where calls and messages originate.

South Korea has seen thousands of its citizens targeted by these frauds and hundreds lured to work in the compounds. Restricting the organizations' finances can limit their reach, complicate recruitment and help investigators trace money back to people directing the operations.

The arrests, rescues and financial measures address different parts of the same criminal industry. South Korean police are examining individual conduct, Cambodian authorities are raiding facilities, and international action is targeting the assets and businesses alleged to support the networks.

What to Know

• Courts approved arrest warrants for 49 of 64 South Koreans repatriated from Cambodia. Decisions remained pending for 10, and five were released as investigations continued.
• Four returnees told police they were confined, beaten and forced to work. Investigators are examining voluntary participation and trafficking claims.
• All 64 returnees tested negative for drugs, police said.
• The August death of a South Korean student aged 22, whom Cambodian authorities said had been tortured, intensified pressure for action.
• South Korea imposed a code black travel ban for parts of Cambodia and sent a joint task force to strengthen enforcement and assistance.
• The Foreign Ministry estimates about 1,000 South Korean nationals are in Cambodian scam centers. About 10 more were recently detained and two rescued.
• Cambodia says raids covered 92 sites across 18 provinces. One operation detained 57 additional South Koreans and 29 Chinese nationals and seized 126 laptops and 30 phones.
• The United States and United Kingdom sanctioned Prince Group over alleged scam operations and money laundering. Chairman Chen Zhi remains at large.