SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were returned to South Korea on Friday to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad.
The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won ($33 million), according to a South Korean government statement.
Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations.
The suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, were escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South Koreans detained in a crackdown in Cambodia in recent months.
“When it comes to crimes that harm our people, we’ll track down and arrest those involved to the very end and get them to face corresponding consequences,” senior police officer Yoo Seung Ryul told a televised briefing at the airport.
Public outrage over scam centers in Southeast Asia flared up in South Korea when a Korean student was found dead last summer after reportedly being forced to work at a scam compound in Cambodia. Authorities said at the time that he died after being tortured and beaten, and South Korea sent a government delegation to Cambodia in October for talks on a joint response.
The suspects repatriated Friday include a couple who allegedly operated a deepfake romance scam to dupe 12 billion won ($8.2 million) from about 100 people in fraudulent investment schemes. South Korea has made various efforts to bring them back home, including more than 10 rounds of video meetings with Cambodian officials, the Justice Ministry said in a statement.
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At the airport briefing, senior Foreign Ministry official Yoo Byung-seok expressed gratitude to the Cambodian government over Friday’s repatriation. He said that South Korea hopes to continue close bilateral coordination until online scams targeting South Koreans are eradicated in Cambodia.
Cybercrime has flourished in Southeast Asia, particularly in Cambodia and Myanmar, as trafficked foreign nationals were employed to run romance and cryptocurrency scams, often after being recruited with false job offers and then forced to work in conditions of near-slavery. According to estimates from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, scam victims worldwide lost between $18 billion and $37 billion in 2023.
Cambodian Information Minister Neth Pheaktra said in a statement that the deportation of the 73 South Koreans, along with 136 Myanmar citizens, was part of his government’s efforts to crack down on cross-border crime and combat technology-based fraud. The statement said that Cambodian authorities detained 5,106 suspects of 23 nationalities and deported 4,534 to their countries of origin over the past seven months.
In January, Cambodia said that it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon accused of running a huge online scam operation.
Since October, about 130 South Korean scam suspects from Cambodia as well as more than 20 such Korean suspects from Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines have been sent back home. After Friday’s repatriation, about 60 South Koreans will remain detained in Cambodia awaiting repatriation, according to police.
Neth Pheaktra’s statement said that Cambodia deported 244 South Korean nationals last year.
South Korean officials said in October that about 1,000 South Koreans were estimated to be in scam centers in Cambodia. Some are believed to be forced laborers.
On Thursday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for stern responses to transnational cybercrimes that he said erodes mutual trust in society and triggers diplomatic disputes with other countries.
