Cambodia Reports 13% Rise in Human Trafficking Victim Support Amid Online Scam Crackdown

Cambodian authorities assisted around 580 human trafficking victims in the first six months of the year, a 13% increase from the same period last year, said Chou Bun Eng, vice chair of the National Committee for Counter Trafficking. Bun Eng, who also serves as secretary of state at the Interior Ministry, said Thursday that about 170 suspects have been arrested in cases involving the victims. Most of the victims were women who suffered sexual exploitation, she said, adding that 147 were minors. “It appears that the number of human trafficking cases remains high,” Bun Eng said, adding that the government’s crackdown on online scam operations has also uncovered trafficking victims working inside scam compounds. The figures come amid a gap in official government data on how many people rounded up during a crackdown on online scam operations have been identified as trafficking victims. The United Nations said in a 2023 report that at least 100,000 people from across the world had been forced or coerced to carry out online scams in Cambodia. Bun Eng said that while trafficking cases have not increased dramatically, there is no sign the problem is declining. She said authorities have been identifying trafficking victims during raids on scam centers – something rights groups have previously said authorities failed to do adequately. The National Committee for Counter Trafficking said last year it referred more than 270 cases to court and rescued 624 women and 282 minors from trafficking situations in 2025. Am Sam Ath, operations director at the rights group Licadho, said trafficking and sexual exploitation remain serious concerns in Cambodia, which is ranked Tier 3 – the lowest ranking – in the U.S. State Department’s latest Trafficking in Persons report. Sam Ath said the rapid growth of online scam operations has fueled trafficking, and that some victims have been deported before authorities could identify them as trafficking victims and provide protection. “During the government’s crackdown on online scam operations, we have seen many suspects arrested. However, there are also many people whose identities have not yet been determined and who have been deported. Some of the victims are Cambodian nationals as well,” Sam Ath said. “Authorities must properly identify trafficking victims so they can receive legal protection, health care and social support to help them recover and reintegrate into society,” he said.