<
https://theconversation.com/desperate-to-flee-abuse-in-cambodian-scam-compounds-these-young-indonesians-are-now-facing-suspicion-back-home-274853>
"In the first two weeks of March, two young Indonesian women died alone in a
hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The first, who Indonesian officials have identified as 22-year-old Susi Yanti
Br. Sinaga died following a critical illness, despite having no prior health
conditions.
Her family said Susi left Indonesia in December 2025 with her boyfriend and a
promise of a job in Malaysia. She ended up being trafficked into a scam
compound in Cambodia. Within three months, she was dead.
The other woman, a 20-year-old shopkeeper from Pekanbaru, Riau province,
arrived in Cambodia under similar circumstances and died only a few days after
Susi. According to multiple NGO sources who assisted her in her final days, her
death was linked to the physical and sexual abuse she suffered in the compound.
These women are among the thousands of young people who have found themselves
stranded in Cambodia in recent months after leaving scam compounds that had
opened their doors in anticipation of rumoured police raids.
Many who have made their way to the Cambodian capital are Indonesian. They
began lining up outside the Indonesian embassy in Phnom Penh in mid-January,
seeking help to return home.
By March 9, the embassy said it had received more than 5,400 requests for
assistance from Indonesian citizens in less than three months. Over 1,800 have
so far been repatriated with the embassy’s assistance. Most of the others are
now hosted in a dedicated facility, where they wait for their turn to leave.
These numbers represent a sharp increase from 2025. They highlight the scale of
trafficking of young Indonesians into “scam factories” across Southeast Asia,
mostly in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines.
Clearly, what is happening to these Indonesians is a complex structural
problem, shaped by regional labour precarity and weak regulation.
Yet, Indonesia is largely overlooked in existing media coverage of the issue.
Relatively little is known about how Indonesians are entrenched in the industry
as victims, operators and stakeholders."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
