Speaker
Shibani Mahtani
Appearances over time
2 episodes
Episodes
2
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
Shoaib owed $3,500 in overstay fines — $10 per day for 11 months — as the primary obstacle blocking his departure from Cambodia.
Shoaib had to purchase four separate plane tickets during his attempts to leave Cambodia, exhausting nearly all of his savings.
Shoaib left the scam compound with roughly $3,600 — his entire savings from both his Kampala job and his time in Cambodia.
More than 200,000 scam workers poured into the streets of Phnom Penh after the Cambodian government's crackdown on scam compounds in early 2025.
Scam workers at Cambodian compounds came from at least 35 countries, spanning Asia and Africa, including a large number from Uganda.
The only trafficking shelter in Cambodia could accommodate just 120 people, and had to turn away hundreds of migrants per week after USAID funding was cut.
The Trump administration shut down USAID in July 2025, forcing the only trafficking shelter in Cambodia to lay off staff and scale back operations.
Shoaib was targeted by a sponsored TikTok ad promising $800 to $1,000 a month for work in Cambodia, versus the $150–$200 he could earn at home in Kampala.
Freelance journalist Mek Darah was arrested and held in prison for a month, ostensibly for a social media post critical of the Cambodian government.
Cambodia charges $10 per day for every day a foreigner overstays their visa, creating an insurmountable barrier for trafficked migrants trying to leave.
After arriving at Phnom Penh airport, Shoaib was driven for five hours at night through potholed and deserted roads to reach the remote scam compound.
Despite being a trafficking victim, Shoaib received a deportation stamp banning him from Cambodia for three years when he finally left.
Workers at the compound were told that leaving before their contract ended would result in owing the bosses approximately $4,000 — a sum Shoaib had never possessed.
Scam workers like Shoaib were forced to work 10 PM to 10 AM on a nocturnal schedule to align with the time zones of their American targets.
Shoaib's first plane ticket home to Uganda cost $1,300 — money he ultimately lost after misreading the departure time and missing the flight.
A compound the size of Times Square, ringed with barbed wire, guard towers, and CCTV cameras — abandoned almost overnight. This is what 20,000 forced workers left behind when Cambodia's crackdown began.
The FBI reported Americans lost more than $20 billion to cyber scams in 2025. In 2024, the profits from these compounds equaled roughly half of Cambodia's entire formal GDP — a staggering measure of how entrenched the industry had become.
A Ugandan man sick in bed was served a TikTok job ad promising $800–$1,000 a month in Cambodia. Within days, without spending a single coin, he had a visa, a plane ticket, and a one-way trip into a scam compound.
Shoaib arrived at the Bavette Business Center compound after a five-hour night drive in a Lexus, welcomed by music and a festival atmosphere. Within 24 hours, the bosses had taken his passport.
The operation had three roles: developers who bought stolen data, receptionists like Shoaib who made first contact with victims, and 'killers' — the Chinese bosses who delivered the final blow and emptied wallets. After each kill, they beat a drum.
On the fifth floor of the compound was an isolation room where workers who tried to escape, contact NGOs, or warn victims were tortured. Shoaib's friend returned covered in wounds. That was when Shoaib knew there was no easy way out.
Leaving before the contract ended meant owing the bosses $4,000 — a sum Shoaib had never seen in his life. The debt trap kept workers locked in as effectively as the barbed wire and confiscated passports.
These aren't improvised criminal outfits. Scam compounds have team leaders, managers, department heads, HR, PR, external recruiters, drivers, and land owned by tycoons with ties to the Cambodian government. The landlords maintain relationships with police to tip them off before raids.
Chen Zhe was considered untouchable — a Chinese-Cambodian kingpin who ran one of the biggest scam conglomerates in Cambodia and advised the country's prime minister. When he was arrested, put on a plane with a bag over his head, and extradited to China, the entire industry panicked.
When the Cambodian crackdown made their bosses vulnerable, workers at Park 8 compound finally revolted — surrounding the Chinese bosses' quarters with sticks and stones, demanding their passports back. The bosses gave them a choice: leave or go to the next compound. Shoaib took his chance.
Shoaib started his journey praying for success. By the end, he was praying that the victims he'd lured would withdraw their money and not come back — the only mercy he could offer from inside the compound.
The task scam runs on carefully crafted scripts and fake identities. Shoaib posed as an Italian woman in California, texting strangers with a remote marketing job offer. Victims were paid real cash at first so they'd trust the scheme and deposit more — until a 'killer' emptied their wallet.
Cambodian immigration flagged Shoaib's passport for an 11-month overstay and demanded $3,500 on the spot. His boss had promised to handle it — then blocked his number. Shoaib, a trafficking victim, was told to pay or go back with nowhere to go.
Turned away from the airport and rejected by landlords afraid of government fines, Shoaib and his fellow Ugandans had no choice but to sleep in a local Cambodian temple for three nights. The only shelter in Phnom Penh was full with a long waitlist.
Shoaib bought four plane tickets trying to get home — the fourth funded by selling his motorbike and cow back in Kampala. Each failed attempt drained his savings further, illustrating the relentless financial punishment faced by scam compound survivors.
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- Society & Culture 33%
- Business 17%
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