Rescued Koreans reveal horrors of Cambodian scam rings: ‘Metal pipes and electric torture’
Two Korean men show scars while recounting their experiences of torture inside a criminal compound during an interview at the immigration office of the Sihanoukville Provincial Police Department in Cambodia, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Heo Kyung-joo
SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia — When police in Cambodia’s Sihanoukville Province rescued two Korean men from an illegal compound earlier this month, the victims could barely speak without trembling.
“I still flinch whenever I hear the sound of a key turning,” one of them said, recalling months of beatings and electric torture.
The two men — identified only as A, 28, and B, 35 — shared their ordeal during an interview with the Hankook Ilbo at the immigration office of the Sihanoukville provincial police headquarters Wednesday.
Both had been lured by false online job offers promising high salaries and comfortable living conditions, only to find themselves trapped in one of the region’s notorious criminal enclaves known as "wenqi" — a Chinese term for scam compounds used by voice phishing syndicates across Southeast Asia.
A Korean man identified only as A shows scars from torture he suffered inside a criminal compound at the immigration office of the Sihanoukville Provincial Police Department in Cambodia, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Heo Kyung-joo
Lured by fake job offers
The 28-year-old man had been working at a Korean company when he saw a Telegram post in February recruiting people “familiar with computer programs.”
The ad promised “a single hotel room, Korean meals and a monthly salary of 8 to 15 million won ($5,640-$10,580).” Believing it was a legitimate opportunity, he flew to Cambodia — but upon arrival, he was taken directly to a voice phishing operation in Sihanoukville.
When he refused to cooperate, he was beaten with metal pipes and later transferred to “Wenqi No. 10,” one of the most feared compounds near Poipet on the Thai border.
The second man, who had been working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, was similarly deceived. He accepted an offer to manage IT traffic for an online company run by a Chinese broker.
After the company went bankrupt, he lost his visa status and was tricked into joining another operation. When he tried to escape, he was captured and “sold” to another group for $3,000.
His “price” kept rising — to $5,000, then $8,000 — each time he was transferred. One guard told him, “If you want to leave, pay the $8,000 we spent to bring you here — plus your food, lodging and even the air you’ve breathed.”
A Korean man identified only as A shows the “mail to myself” folder he used as one of his escape methods during an interview. Korea Times photo by Heo Kyung-joo
Daily torture and inhuman conditions
Inside the wenqi, human rights did not exist. “We were treated worse than dogs or chickens,” the two men said. Twelve people shared two beds and survived on a single daily meal of noodles. They worked by day with their ankles chained and were handcuffed to beds at night.
The men described Room G106 as the most terrifying place — the torture chamber. Victims were hung from the ceiling or shocked with electric batons on their thighs. They often fainted in dark rooms without light or air, unable to tell day from night.
“A Chinese man who tried to escape was beaten to death right before our eyes,” B recalled. “The manager threatened to burn our bodies in the incinerator if we tried the same.”
A added, “They forced me to wipe the bloodstains off the walls and floor. The smell of blood stayed on my hands for a week.” At times, he said, he even considered taking his own life, but the constant handcuffs made it impossible.
The hotel in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, where A and B were last confined. The upper floors served as a base for voice phishing operations. Korea Times photo by Heo Kyung-joo
Failed escape and continued torture
In August, A tried to contact the outside world by borrowing a guard’s phone under the pretext of calling his girlfriend for her birthday.
He managed to send a rescue message via Telegram to a nearby Korean restaurant, but the attempt was discovered after two and a half hours. Both men were tortured again and chained to their beds for a month, allowed to use the bathroom only once a day.
They were later transferred to another building disguised as a tourist hotel, where the upper floors housed phishing operations. There, Chinese brokers promised to release them “after earning 1 billion won in sales.”
Forced to impersonate Korean officials over the phone, the men were referred to only by their room number, “1323.”
Still, they did not give up. Using a loophole in the compound’s monitored Wi-Fi system, they left detailed messages about their location in the “sent to myself” folder of a webmail account — a method that bypassed surveillance.
A then shared his ID credentials with his family and the office of Rep. Park Chan-dae of the Democratic Party of Korea in Seoul, leading to their rescue by local police on Sept. 29 — 160 days after being abducted.
“I don’t think I would have survived another failed attempt,” A said, his voice shaking.
The Sihanoukville Provincial Police Department building in Cambodia is seen Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Heo Kyung-joo
‘Just want to go home’
Both men now remain in police custody as witnesses in the ongoing investigation.
Their return to Korea is uncertain, as Cambodian authorities are still conducting trials and identity verification. With their passports confiscated, reissuance is expected to take time.
“All I want now is to return home — even one second sooner,” A said, fighting back tears. When asked what he wanted to do first upon returning, he paused before saying quietly, “I just want to see my family.”
A estimated that “at least 1,000 Koreans” may have been trafficked into such compounds, far exceeding the 300 to 400 officially reported cases.
He appealed for greater government action. “There are many like me who came just looking for work and ended up trapped. The government needs to intervene more actively.”
A Korean government task force led by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jin-a arrived in Phnom Penh on Tuesday night.
The team will meet with Cambodian officials to locate and protect about 80 Koreans whose safety remains unconfirmed, and to discuss the autopsy and repatriation of a Korean student who died under torture. Talks will also cover the repatriation of 63 Koreans currently detained on online fraud charges.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.