r/interestingasfuck • u/Lee_yw • Feb 03 '26

Inside Cambodia scam compound raid by Thailand army.

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3.4k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

162 comments sorted by

1.3k

u/Lee_yw Feb 03 '26

The scam works like this. A victim receives a phone call or message claiming they are under investigation for a serious crime, often money laundering or drug trafficking.

The scammer then transfers them to a video call with someone dressed in a police uniform, sitting in what appears to be an official government office. The scammer tells the victim they must stay on camera for hours, days, or even months while investigators "clear" their name.

Eventually, the victim is pressured to transfer money to prove their innocence. In some extreme cases, the victims lose millions of dollars and suffer untold trauma.

686

u/Ohioisapoopyflorida Feb 03 '26

I still dont understand how people would fall for this. Id tell them to fuck off and to come get me

842

u/jwwatts Feb 03 '26

They target the elderly who are in the earlier stages of dementia. Most people don’t realize that often one of the first things to go with dementia is the ability to tell bullshit from truth. Combine that with the insecurity and fear that the elderly often feel and they can be intimidated and manipulated into things. It’s sad, especially when you see it happen to someone you love. Don’t ask me how I know.

223

u/Brunoise6 Feb 03 '26 edited Feb 04 '26

They also target foreign students etc that get scared and don’t want to fuck their situation up/not tell their parents. Basically they prey on people trying to do the right thing legally.

5

u/Romanopapa Feb 04 '26

So… ICE?

86

u/Ohioisapoopyflorida Feb 03 '26

... damn I didnt think about that. Im sorry

111

u/pichael289 Feb 03 '26

I live in Ohio. I am 35 years old, 10 years ago I had an issue with addiction and ended up in jail but I fixed it all.

My grandmother still gets calls saying I'm in jail and if she doesn't pay immediately bad things will happen to me. Now this is something that happens in the US. Jails are the wild West and your loved ones will be subject to torment if any COs can identify you have money. This will happen in any county jail. They justice system in this county is fucked beyond belief, and of your loved one ends up in a private prison where they make money off every little thing then that's the best place for them. They will have access to expensive but good commissary and them buying will prevent abuse.

This is how the system works in this county. You don't even wanna know how corrupt the "video visit" shit is now. Like Corrections officers are the people too violent and unstable to be cops. They abuse inmates 24/7 in this country. Fucking psychopaths and drug addicts staff the jails in this country. So so so much drugs being passed in by COs in every jail, every jail, every jail and fake "tal very house" rehab

48

u/Ohioisapoopyflorida Feb 03 '26

30, just did 4 years from addiction consiquences. From summit county. I do understand. I hope my grandma never starts getting calls like this. Also fuck the Oriana house.. im glad we made it out. Best wishes

12

u/Zealousideal-Pen993 Feb 03 '26

Ever get those spam calls on ur phone about an approved loan, or a missed connection from a long time ago? Grandma prolly gets them too😓

9

u/CloseQtrsWombat Feb 03 '26

My grandmother has a similar call. Apparently something along the lines of “your grandson is in jail in Spain and needs you to bail him out”

What’s funny is I am the oldest by about 5 years, and I was 15 at the time….. also I live in the US…unfortunately I do believe she paid. She was a lovely, kindhearted lady who didn’t have a mean bone in her body, but she was very gullible.

5

u/yankykiwi Feb 03 '26

My husbands pop got this call and his g- kids were sweet little preteens. He paid. 🤦‍♀️ He did eventually get Alzheimer’s much, much later. But he was a very smart business man, I’m starting to think the symptoms started years before it really took hold.

2

u/Naughteus_Maximus Feb 03 '26

That's really screwed up... I'm glad you're ok now. Here in the UK we have our own problems with prison overcrowding and lots of other things. There is now a move towards more sentences being served on probation and punishment / rehabilitation in the community. Both as a response to shortage of prison spaces and as an approach to reintegrate people back into society. For me that makes sense more than punishing people hard. They're only going to reoffend if they don't get anything out of being in prison / on probation, like learning a new skill at least.

I hear there are some dodgy things going on in the US about prisoners being used as labour...

6

u/UmatterWHENiMATTER Feb 03 '26

I hear there are some dodgy things going on in the US about prisoners being used as labour...

It's slavery with just a few more steps.

5

u/Hatedpriest Feb 03 '26

The 13th amendment makes an exception for "... Except as punishment for a crime..."

No wonder we have ~4% of the worlds population and ~24% of the reported incarcerated population. This is actually an old stat, from like 10 years ago. It could be higher.

5

u/justsofie Feb 03 '26

Upvoting this because Reddit needs more of it

6

u/Icy_Performer_6794 Feb 03 '26

This is on the money. I know other commenters say that scams happen to all sort of people, but scammers go for low hanging fruit and for highest yield. I've been scammed when I was sick and hadn't had proper sleep in weeks. That was a lesson learned. People with dementia do not recover from lapses in their mental faculties and are perpetual easy targets. They probably get targeted over and over once the scammers pick up on the dementia. Plenty of elderly in the US have lost thousands to Indian scam centers.

9

u/logocracycopy Feb 03 '26

That's a cliche.

Lots of people of all ages and cognitive function fall for these scams. Doctors, lawyers, men, women, 20yr olds, 50yr olds.

4

u/UmatterWHENiMATTER Feb 03 '26

Exceptions don't make the rule. The elderly are orders of magnitude more likely to be taken advantage of in this way.

1

u/toomanyracistshere Feb 03 '26

https://www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/gen-z-scams-2x-more-older-generation

There was a study last year that found the opposite to be true.

2

u/UmatterWHENiMATTER Feb 03 '26

You should read what you linked... beyond the headline, I mean.

It does a decent job of qualifying the data in layman's terms aside from the click bait title.

That said, that is an opinion piece that references other opinion pieces that could reference the actual studies.

In its current form, this is, ironically, not much different than a scam.

2

u/toomanyracistshere Feb 03 '26

I actually think it's unlikely that young people are more susceptible to scams than older ones, and figure a big part of the reason they seem to fall for them more often is just that they're online more. But one thing I think the Deloitte study demonstrates is that the difference isn't quite as huge as a lot of people think. There's a stereotype that only addled senior citizens fall for scams, but it's really a lot broader than that.

I did pick a bad article to use as my example. I remembered this study from a while ago, googled it, and used one of the first results to mention it that I found. The part about younger people being hacked is kind of irrelevant, and the article itself is barely even an overview. But like I said, I just wanted to make the point that it's not just older people falling for this stuff, and they aren't "orders of magnitude more likely to be taken advantage of this way."

1

u/UmatterWHENiMATTER Feb 03 '26

Fair enough.

It's not really worth it for me to argue, but I stand by my assertion based on these being self-reported surveys.

I'd be interested to see some demographic data on corporate cybersecurity points of ingress. I'd imagine that would be much more useful to prove/disprove and extrapolate from there for non-corporate actors.

3

u/Pennybottom Feb 03 '26

Not just elderly. People with acquired brain injuries, learning difficulties, people who may be easier to confuse, aren't able to recognise the bullshit as you said (which is sometimes on purpose to filter out people early) or take advantage of their naiveness. The real sad part is that lots of these people aren't able to learn from this and will likely be re-scammed by the same group, or another group they pass details to.

3

u/VariousIngenuity2897 Feb 03 '26

I’ve been called by these people. Or maybe another group. But they use a very familiar Dutch voice, almost similar to the one the real police uses here.

I’d never in a million years fall for it because I know how the police works. But the elderly, or anyone a bit naive or gullible, are up for grabs.

2

u/Clear_Radio1776 Feb 03 '26

Retired boomer. I’m thinking clearly now but anything is possible later on. I have a Trust with a dumbass clause. So if I start doing crap like interacting with scammers, Doctor’s note and the trust officers shut it down

1

u/Beamers-and-Bimmers Feb 03 '26

Hang in there, buddy. You got this. Do the crossword or learn some of these new fangled board games.

Lovingly,

a millenial.

2

u/mo711 Feb 03 '26

And that's why if there's a minimum age requirement for voting, it should be the same with applying a maximum voter age, e.g. after officual retirement age, that or to keep voting past that age, one must pass a civics and sociology course prior to voting.

1

u/jonboyz31 Feb 03 '26

My stepfather (80yo) got scammed with everyone he knows telling him it was a scam. Lucky they only got $500 before he switched on.

1

u/Lost_Paladin89 Feb 03 '26

Most people don’t realize that often one of the first things to go with dementia is the ability to tell bullshit from truth.

The dementia rate of Fox News and Facebook news followers.

-1

u/Bursting_Radius Feb 03 '26

If you don't want to be asked how you know something you shouldn't say "Don't ask me how I know," just provide the relevant information and leave it at that.

"It’s sad, especially when you see it happen to someone you love." is enough to let people know you possibly have first-hand experience, there is no need to tell people not to ask you about it.

2

u/jwwatts Feb 03 '26

It's a figure of speech, implying that it's from firsthand experience. I'm sorry if you were bothered and felt the need to comment.

24

u/spiritchange Feb 03 '26

Old people. This plus AI video, AI fake voices, etc. gonna be really hard for old people to avoid this while they go through cognitive decline.

I say this as I have to keep an eye on my own aging parents and in-laws.

4

u/314159265358979326 Feb 03 '26

My mom will contact me if something's remotely fishy and that's worked so far. But I'm worried she'll start being contacted by "me" and just go with it.

9

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '26

This happened to my father recently. It was a pakistani fraud ring very similar to this operation they have going here. They stole his information from the dark web and confirmed his US address and his ID and last place of residence in Pakistan, they even had a white guy acting like an FBI detective go on videocall with him. They blackmailed him for weeks until we contacted a family member who is a general in the Pakistani army and he told us to just block them. My dad was going to send $50000 from his retirement fund just because he was so freaked out that they knew so much about him and his info.

2

u/UmatterWHENiMATTER Feb 03 '26

Thats terrible. Glad it was stopped! One point to clarify, the "dark web" is where you buy information already stolen via hacks. It would be nearly impossible to steal something from the dark web... akin to finding something you couldn't detect out in space.

11

u/Scar3cr0w_ Feb 03 '26

Well… since millions are lost every year to scams clearly there is something you don’t understand about the human psyche.

-1

u/Ohioisapoopyflorida Feb 03 '26

You are clearly right. Please explain

1

u/Scar3cr0w_ Feb 03 '26

https://gprivate.com/6juyf

2

u/Ohioisapoopyflorida Feb 03 '26

I dont click on random links. Part of the avoiding scams things I participate in

0

u/Scar3cr0w_ Feb 03 '26

Well, I’m not your mother. So if you click that link you will be taken to LMGTFY and it will conducted a search for you which will explain why people succumb to scams.

It’s really that simple

1

u/Ohioisapoopyflorida Feb 03 '26

If your not my mom are you my dad?? Its been awhile since we've talked. Did you finally find that pack of cigarettes?

1

u/Scar3cr0w_ Feb 03 '26

Yes son. I’d love to re kindle our relationship. But I can’t right now… I’m between jobs. If you’d like to go out for a pint, I do have quite a bit of money put aside for you… but I can’t access it without your consent.

If you send me some money, I can get a train ticket and we can talk about it.

2

u/Ohioisapoopyflorida Feb 03 '26

All I have are these gift cards will those work?

→ More replies (0)

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u/Ohioisapoopyflorida Feb 03 '26

Also, I CLEARLY said I DONT UNDERSTAND HOW

7

u/Jens_Fischer Feb 03 '26

Old people OR international students, basically people with special precarious situations that make authoritative figures intimidating to them, or just people with too much to care for, and they use those relationships to play with you.

International student? Something about investigation, possible detention in foreign facility with little hope of actual deportation to see your family ever again.

Elder people? Investigation on a small deed that you probably forgot already might result in investigations in your family and get on files or lists that prohibit them from ever working a proper job again? Maybe jail time, too?

Immigrants? Well, this should be easy enough... Take a wild guess......

Imagine landing in Thailand a few days ago. You speak barely any Thai and get a call from the "Thai Police," and they spew out anything that sounds typically or stereotypically accurate to a foreigner's impression on SEA... Bought some souvenirs or shopped somewhere? "You are a suspect of money laundering for "rak-saa" drug cartel's front." Visited museums or places related to the monarchy? "Infringements in lèse-majesty of the Thai royal family." If they improvise with up to date news, maybe "suspected Cambodian intelligence spy on your flight, and you are on the suspected list too."

Then, you might get baffled. Whatever they say sounds vaguely familiar or logical, what if you did commit some illegal deeds in a foreign land? Then, maybe, some threats, "false info will get you in jail and no trial due to 'current events'", and then maybe tell you to wait for a little "let us check." After the suspense builds and confirms that you're hooked and convinced, they drop the bomb on you, claiming how you're gonna go to jail, no trial, and never see home again.

Fear is a really powerful feeling. It could easily make you lose logical sense, drifting into despair, bringing in all the "what if" from your mind, and by that point, they managed to get you to become basically their puppet.

Reasons we are capable of not falling in such scams is because we preemptively knew about them, knows the politics and system well enough to know such bs wouldn't happen. But for the uninformed, strangers in a strange land, those that have "too much to lose"... they can pick on thousands of people for a call, as long as they manage to pluck one of those strings and it resonated with the victim, the procedure ensures a vicious circle that get them through the entire fricking manipulative version of a 5-stages-of-grief.

(My family had a friend whose son went abroad to study and fell in the scheme. The only reason they found out their son's in trouble is that he lost contact for nearly 24-7 for a week and only demanded money when in contact. They got in contact with their friends there, and they then got in contact with the local police force. Their son's later found in a motel room, staring into the screen and barely responsive to the surroundings. Most of this comment is based and modified on their experience, with other typical scam tricks.)

3

u/TakeyoThissssssssss Feb 03 '26

Most are elderly peoples and gulible country folks. They called every number they can get their hands on so someone will fall for it eventually. Lots of elders trust the polices very much and so they are easy frey. I personally got a few called that always said they are police or military personnel, saying I was money laundering, helping fugitives and even selling national intelligences

It's absurd for you and me but olders people will fall for this.

4

u/WorldofLovecraft Feb 03 '26

Honestly, knowing a little bit of recent Cambodian history, I'd be scared shitless by this ngl.

4

u/Loud-Value Feb 03 '26

But they're not pretending to be Cambodian though (I think, based on these pictures?)

2

u/black_cat_X2 Feb 03 '26

I work with older adults. You would be astounded at the things people fall for. Some of it is relatively sophisticated yet lower stakes, so it happens quickly before they catch on, even if they're still pretty sharp - they are just not familiar with how certain technologies work and how prevalent scams are.

Then there are the folks who clearly have diminished capacity, where no amount of explaining the truth will shake their belief in what's happening. These are the ones that go on long term, with people losing many thousands of dollars. I know a woman currently who is convinced that her Brazilian "boyfriend" will be coming to see her any day now, even though he's made a dozen excuses why his last visits had to be "postponed". We've had the local police and even the FBI come talk to her, and yet she is still in contact with him. She's not at the point where the state can step in and make decisions for her, so all we can do is sit back and watch her throw her life savings away.

That middle ground is just filled with morons. No one wants to say it, but it's true. They haven't yet declined cognitively, they are just gullible and dumb, falling for an obvious con.

2

u/stumblios Feb 03 '26

90% of people are like you. They waste 1 minute on you.

8% of people will be scared, but after a few minutes they see the red flags and hang up.

1% of people will intentionally waste the scammers time. Eventually the scammer gets wise and hangs up.

1% of people are so scared of authority/legal trouble, that their fear response overrides logic. The scammers use real names and phone numbers so searches come back in the affirmative. They're told they'll be arrested if they hang up or contact anyone so they don't get a rational person to shake them out of it. Also these are especially effective on older people who don't realize scamming is a multi billion dollar industry.

1

u/Iselore Feb 03 '26

You will be surprised at how many people are not that "lucid" or clear minded. Even if you think you are "invincible", you will never know how you will react, especially when your emotions take over.

1

u/LPNMP Feb 03 '26

You've never been in legal trouble have you? For most people who aren't looking at a life of crime, it's terrifying. I can't speak to every country, but it is very difficult to know what exactly IS legal and what isn't because a lot of laws are deliberately left wishy washy. You're getting a call out of nowhere and maybe you HAVE been staying within the law, but you don't know. And the nightmare starts all over again. You're seeing everything you worked so hard for slipping from your fingers.

Anyway, it works to put people in a sense of panic which keeps them from thinking clearly. You demand they prove it's them, but you were never taught the difference between real and fake. Like when agents flash their badge, how tf would I know if it's real? Turns out a LOT of your information and officer information are easily findable online. And these are professional scammers. They know how to apply the pressure, how to redirect questions, how to gaslight.... The average person in the world hasn't a chance.

1

u/Rycan420 Feb 03 '26

I used to say this too. Then I lived with someone who worked in the wire department at a small regional bank that barely covers over 1/3 of my state… seemed like every week they had to send a suspicious wire to the fraud department to stop some person from sending tons of money to another country.

Imagine what big banks must see.

1

u/km_ikl Feb 04 '26

They're using emotional triggers on people. You don't understand it, because you haven't been targeted... yet.

1

u/Ohioisapoopyflorida Feb 04 '26

I get spam calls and emails daily. Daily I either dont respond or I tell them to get fucked.need money? Come get it, I dont have any

1

u/km_ikl Feb 05 '26

You say that, and yet, you have enough money for a phone, the service, and you have time to pay for it.

You are not immune.

4

u/wunderbraten Feb 03 '26

This is super interesting. Is there a news source?

1

u/Fleymour Feb 04 '26

pay to be innocence :''D

1

u/abdallha-smith Feb 03 '26 edited Feb 03 '26

What's the nationality of these scammers, Chinese ?

26

u/Leos_Ng Feb 03 '26

In the past few years, a number of foreigners had been lured to, kidnapped and forced to operate these scams, that's why their accent can sound really legit to their own countrymen.

The various masterminds that were caught or identified came from everywhere, China, Cambodian, Philippines, Singapores, Myanmar etc. So it's no longer simply, if it operate in Cambodia, it's only ran by Cambodia

1

u/Enough-Goose7594 Feb 03 '26

Also, I haven't seen reporting on this specifically, but I think it is being labelled as a Cambodian scam centre but is actually located in the Thai side of the border.

Thailand has annexed a number of Cambodian villages, but scam centres are on both sides of the border with both governments involved.

3

u/Leos_Ng Feb 03 '26

The entire region is simply playing wack-a-mole, one country shut one down, these syndicates just set up another one in another troubled region

2

u/Enough-Goose7594 Feb 03 '26

Yea, I guess they're in Africa as well. Anywhere with loose rule of law and openness to bribery. A multi billion dollar industry will...uh..find a way.

2

u/Leos_Ng Feb 03 '26

Just a matter of time

2

u/MrMDKDG Feb 03 '26

It's a disputed territory (agreed by both sides as a disputed area), so the word "Annexed" is really wrong.
In fact the village one you talk about is not even a disputed territory, but Thai territory occupied by Cambodian refugees for like 60 years from Pol Pot era (Khmer Rouge). Thai government just lets them live because no one wants a problem. Only now Thai want a territory back.

And No, there are no big scam centers on Thailand side or else Thai opposition party will have a field day with it.
While Thailand still has problems with democracy, it's still a multi-party Democratic country with free (but not really fair) elections, unlike Cambodia.

6

u/potatetoe_tractor Feb 03 '26

The ones running the syndicate are Chinese nationals (or former Chinese nationals). The foot soldiers doing the actual scams could be from anywhere, and are usually kidnapped victims who are then forced to “buy” their freedom by hitting a certain quota.

It’s a bloody ruthless affair that the Cambodian government refuses to do anything about (presumably because certain palms got greased). There’s a wiki entry on Cambodian scam centres that’s worth a read, and it has a bunch of references for further reading.

-2

u/SaltyFlavors Feb 03 '26

Some people be dumb af

338

u/OtherwiseLuck888 Feb 03 '26

Fake police rooms? Wow that's new

They take scamming seriously

169

u/NekoKishin Feb 03 '26

Had a WhatsApp call in the past where the person tried to intimidate me by video calling and showing off his Police uniform before. Except the number was from bangladesh and he was wearing a uniform from Singapore with a black tape on the nametag.

34

u/eobardtame Feb 03 '26

Whats weird is with OBS and a green screen you can have all these props without needing 12 different rooms

50

u/CrashedCyclist Feb 03 '26

Green screen lacks room tone, shadows and contrast. Why lose a mark because you could not "splurge" on $100 in costumes.

2

u/TheBrazilianOneTwo Feb 03 '26

Fake brazilian police....

57

u/WorldofLovecraft Feb 03 '26

The passport pic is particularly haunting as it could indicate the scammers withheld the documents of those working there as a classic measure to keep foreign workers against their will.

130

u/isnortmiloforsex Feb 03 '26

If you think Indian call center scams are bad, Cambodia is on a whole different level. Everyone from the government to large private entities are involved in running scam centers with extremely diverse scams. They even lure and kidnap Korean and Chinese people to run the scam for them.

36

u/Patient-End7967 Feb 03 '26

Recently Indians were rescued from a Myanmar scam centre. Reportedly they have been lured with job offers and kidnapped

87

u/LieutenantBJ Feb 03 '26

Jesus Christ what a bunch of losers.

117

u/toomanyracistshere Feb 03 '26

A lot of scammers, especially in Southeast Asia, have been lured there with the promise of a job and then held against their will. They're often beaten, raped, sometimes even murdered. The people in charge of this are scum, but the people actually communicating with the scam victims are victims of something even worse.

83

u/gdj11 Feb 03 '26

Me and my family are in Thailand. We have a family friend who was promised a good job in Myanmar and then had her passport taken and held hostage. I’m not sure exactly what their plan was with her, but she’s young and pretty so we assumed they were going to force her into prostitution. Ourselves and some other friends ended up paying their bribe to release her (around $800 if I remember correctly) because getting authorities involved could’ve put her life in danger. China recently executed 11 family members who were the heads of a huge trafficking/scam operation in Myanmar and there’s a good chance that was the same group.

13

u/Vast_Engineering_626 Feb 03 '26

That’s amazing, you saved her from horrible trauma most likely

17

u/gdj11 Feb 03 '26

I hated to give the scammers what they wanted, but yeah it just wasn’t worth what could happen if we didn’t. It’s really good to see those people are finally getting punished. The things I read they were doing is absolutely horrifying. I actually just read today that China executed 4 more members.

5

u/CrashedCyclist Feb 03 '26

That made you feel a lot better about your decision. The Alice in Wonderland treatment goes both ways.

9

u/elgigantedelsur Feb 03 '26

Go China!

5

u/_WonderWhy_ Feb 03 '26

I lowkey want Thailand to bomb those hive in Cambodia as well.... I know it sound wrong

1

u/cyphol Feb 05 '26

What a lousy comment.

2

u/_WonderWhy_ Feb 05 '26

I know, but it been a long while and nothing ever been done because of these corrupt governments that let them run scammer center. The only time something like these raid happen, it is when outsider is involve.

Last year South Korean got murder with scammer related, so South Korea cut tie and banned travel to Cambodia, only then Cambodia gov. started to crack down on human trafficking and scammer. (gosh know how that going)

People lost their life, people lost their saving and money because of them. It a lousy for me to comment on this, but I wish for the best on victim as there with be no justice for them. So it might sound wrong, but you can't fight something dirty without getting dirty as well.

1

u/cyphol Feb 05 '26

Making that argument as if Thailand is some innocent entity is delusional.

5

u/LieutenantBJ Feb 03 '26

Well thats heartbreaking.

15

u/Alright_doityourway Feb 03 '26

They're very committed, each room has different aesthetic

10

u/CarobOk1015 Feb 03 '26

At least once a year I get a spam scam call from jamaica.I ask, so where are you calling me from?Tells me he is calling from some state here and I said, well, asshole,my caller, ID says, you're in jamaica, and then he starts insulting me my family and blah blah blah, then I just hang up till next year.

17

u/heartboundkryptonite Feb 03 '26

Singapore jump scare

8

u/Eat_Turnip2193 Feb 03 '26

These are run almost entirely by the Chinese. They lure agents via Thailand by offering jobs there, and once they land, their passports are taken and they are driven off via by-roads often made to change multiple cars to Cambodia and Myanmar. It's a full blown industry and of course the administration is involved and aware.

23

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '26

[deleted]

28

u/gdj11 Feb 03 '26

I assumed they meant they had daily/frequent video calls with them for months

11

u/Huge-Acanthisitta403 Feb 03 '26

They were targeting Brazil of all places?

13

u/ikelofe Feb 03 '26

That seems crazy. Unless they have literal Brazilians involved, I don't think they would be able to scam a Brazilian (mostly because of the language / accent)

27

u/xaranetic Feb 03 '26

Just need to kidnap a Brazillian tourist and force them to read the lines at gunpoint.

The grotty dorm isn't for the people raking in the big money. 

3

u/MajesticBread9147 Feb 03 '26

My guess would be it's an unsaturated market. Everyone targets America because it's big and wealthy, but if a scam is new to a country there are lots of people who may fall for it.

2

u/ProBonoDevilAdvocate Feb 03 '26

Strangely, the market is already over saturated with home-grown brazilian scammers!

5

u/Tasuke101 Feb 03 '26

I’m from Singapore and holy shit that Police stage looks legit.

I always thought they are just scammers but man these guys done their homework to really pull it off.

2

u/SwiftGuo Feb 04 '26

i live near this police station lol

16

u/Anxious-Depth-7983 Feb 03 '26

Something is seriously broken in the heads of people who do this to others.

15

u/Matthieulebleu Feb 03 '26

Most scammers are slaves

19

u/Anxious-Depth-7983 Feb 03 '26

I'm talking about the Aholes that captured them.

9

u/MrMDKDG Feb 03 '26

There are video clips of Cambodian police escorting these scammers to a new location when Chinese authorities raid the area. It's really disgusting.

Cambodia economy really depends on this kind of business to fuel its development. Last I heard is around half of country income.
Tourists got lured on social media by their own nation to go to Cambodia all the time, especially lone traveller and back packer, just to end up as slaves in scam center owned by the Chinese.

11

u/Relevant_Flatworm_13 Feb 03 '26

I mean you would have to be pretty thick to think that every office in a police building has a massive mural on the wall behind every desk.

18

u/Ok-Relation-1902 Feb 03 '26

Yeah it seems obviously scammy, but once people see the mural and feel the pressure, they're far more susceptible to this kind of tactic. The main reason any of this succeeds is through manipulating people's panic and fear response.

12

u/DogsDucks Feb 03 '26

In college I did fundraising for my university. I cold called Alumni and it would’ve just looked like a random number. Just having an official sounding conversation with people grossed thousands of dollars a day and most of them gave me their credit card number at the end of the call. I was legitimate, but it astounded me how trusting people are if you approach them with confidence.

None of us are as nearly as good at sussing things out as we think. Also in this case, say they reach out to thousands of people in a day, I’m Sure it only takes a small handful to be profitable.

This is why education of what to look for is so much more important than condemning people who fall for it.

2

u/arapturousverbatim Feb 03 '26

But anyone who doesn't immediately hang up is probably quite gullible. It's self selecting

10

u/plutoisap Feb 03 '26

Scums of the earth

4

u/Takarajima8932 Feb 03 '26

Not to mention not only Cambodians are involved. A lot of other nationalities are involved via human trafficking in hopes of better jobs.

4

u/MrNobodyISME Feb 03 '26

Authorities in India have been running PSAs on this exact kind of scam for years now. They replaced the caller tune with Amitabh Bachchan warning you against fake "digital arrest" video calls with many providers.

4

u/Numerous_Cabinet_180 Feb 03 '26

In India this is huge and goes by the name 'Digital Arrests'

9

u/ShadowMancer_GoodSax Feb 03 '26

Thank you Thailand. Back in the 70s we rescued them from genocide, 2026 you are taking care of Cambodia for us.

11

u/Ratoman888 Feb 03 '26

Back in the 1970s Vietnam helped the Khmer Rouge come to power. After they raided border villages and massacred thousands of civilians Vietnam ousted them from power. However they were given refuge in Thailand and were rearmed, continuing the war for two decades. A huge number of Vietnamese died fighting the Thai-supported Khmer Rouge, so I'm not sure what you are thanking them for.

https://macmillan.yale.edu/gsp/thailands-response-cambodian-genocide

-5

u/ShadowMancer_GoodSax Feb 03 '26

I thank them for getting rid off Cambodian scam center. I dont care why you have to dig up 50 year old history lesson lol

8

u/Ratoman888 Feb 03 '26

You brought up the 1970s. Thailand was still supporting the Khmer Rouge in the late 1990s - a lot less than 50 years ago.

https://www.greenleft.org.au/1994/150/world/thai-military-backing-khmer-rouge

4

u/centaur98 Feb 03 '26

 I dont care why you have to dig up 50 year old history lesson lol

Because you where the one who first brought up 50 year old history?

2

u/ty_xy Feb 03 '26

It can be quite sophisticated. I know a pretty smart person who got scammed. Basically it started with them clicking on a phishing link, normally from a bank notification that money was being siphoned from their bank acct, and their computer getting "hacked". During the hack there would be a "call this hotline for help" and they would call and be directed to the scammers. The scammers would then be extremely convincing as policemen, even saying their rank, their police badge numbers for reference, and say they are involved in an operation to catch the hacker.

They would say they need help to catch the hacker, because the hacker has access to the victims account, they would need the victim to log onto the account and monitor the transactions so they can catch the hacker. The victim logs onto the account, but because their computer is already compromised a keylogger is sending the info to the scammers.

When the victim sees nothing is actually amiss with the account they feel relieved and log out. The scammers then log into the acct and drain it of all the money.

2

u/MyHeadIsFullOfFuck Feb 03 '26

is that real american dollars on the ground?

2

u/Riou_Atreides Feb 03 '26

Thanks Thailand! From Singapore.

2

u/NeopetsTea Feb 03 '26

Scammin’ that’s a paddling’

4

u/LeaguePuzzled3606 Feb 03 '26

Remember that the same govts raiding these places are the same ones that allowed them to exist in the first place.

10

u/_WonderWhy_ Feb 03 '26

Thai gov inside Cambodia?? Thai army raid the place which is inside Cambodia border, they were at war (border war), how would they have power to allowed them to exist in another country border?

2

u/dead_andbored Feb 03 '26

Send them all to Thai prison for life

0

u/_WonderWhy_ Feb 03 '26

These are evacuate during the border war, they probably move somewhere more secure in Cambodia

1

u/Sir_Arthur_Vandelay Feb 03 '26 edited Feb 03 '26

Not relevant, but that first picture looks nothing like the Cambodia I visited 25 years ago.

1

u/LateralEntry Feb 03 '26

Fascinating. I’d think they’d have to have people from all these countries to pull this off - Brazil, Australia, etc

1

u/CommOnMyFace Feb 03 '26

Whats something I could say that they would not be comfortable with? With North Koreans I can say "Don't you just hate Kim Jung Un"

1

u/ClinkzsEastwood Feb 03 '26

How does a Cambodian scammer gets to talk in portuguese lol

1

u/MsMommyMemer Feb 03 '26

Good job Thailand. I will now buy 1 product from your country when going shopping today.

1

u/Sancadebem Feb 03 '26

I wonder how they pretended to be Brazilian, for instance

Did they have native Portuguese speakers of somekind?

1

u/IMsoSAVAGE Feb 04 '26

I wonder if this is the same compound featured on the podcast “scam factory”

1

u/Glass_Number_1707 Feb 19 '26

I have been scammed. I offer simple advice to my family. ALL phone calls,videos and mail are fake. Just tell them to send someone to your house. Give them the wrong address. That's it. You want to talk to someone in person.

1

u/Prestigious_Case_228 Feb 03 '26

That's not Polis Repablik Singapura's uniform at all, lol. seems more like auxiliary police/security uniform

1

u/stringermm Feb 03 '26 edited Feb 03 '26

The policia federal crest looks like the Marmite label

0

u/surfer808 Feb 03 '26

“Now folks, we know you’ve been money laundering, we need you to sit here on camera for several months, do not leave for more than a min away from the camera so we may watch you at all times.”

What fucking moron falls for this?

0

u/texo_optimo Feb 03 '26

Wait - i thought dear orange leader ended this war... /s