Recently, the Thai military publicly displayed evidence of a fraudulent compound discovered near the Cambodian border, stating that the facilities had held thousands of individuals forced to engage in fraudulent activities, including many victims of human trafficking.
A survivor of Chinese nationality recently spoke to Epoch Times about his experience of being lured, detained, and subjected to violence. Currently, this survivor, along with over a thousand rescued Chinese nationals, are temporarily housed in an old airport facility in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, waiting to arrange for their return to their home country. According to the survivor, airline tickets purchased through the Chinese embassy would have an additional mark-up of one to two thousand yuan.
On February 2, senior Thai military officials displayed evidence of the fraudulent compound discovered in the Thai-Cambodian border region in Surin Province to the media and diplomats from various countries. This operation took place during last year’s Thai-Cambodian border conflict, at a location in the O’Smach area of Cambodia.
According to a report by Reuters citing Thiranan Nandakorn, head of the Thai army intelligence department, the fraudulent compound once housed thousands of people. He stated, “We hope the international community sees how this place was used as a base for inhuman crimes.”
Within a six-story building, Thai military forces found a large number of documents. The site also seized 871 SIM cards for international communication, dozens of smartphones, fake police badges and uniforms. Several rooms were set up to resemble foreign police stations, including scenes labeled “Pudong Sub-bureau of Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau, China.”
Thailand and Cambodia reached a ceasefire agreement at the end of December last year to end several weeks of intense border conflicts. During the conflict, the Thai military attacked several complexes they claimed were fraudulent compound facilities.
Touch Sokhak, a spokesperson for the Cambodian Ministry of Interior, responded that Thailand’s assertions of launching military operations under the guise of combating fraud were “not accurate.” However, he also stated that the Cambodian government pledged to eliminate illegal fraud industries within its borders by April.
On February 3, a victim named Zhang Jianhua (pseudonym) from Guizhou, China, spoke to Epoch Times over the phone from the temporary shelter in Phnom Penh, recounting his experience of being lured and trafficked to a fraudulent compound in Cambodia.
Zhang Jianhua’s nightmare began in December 2023 when a “friend” he met at an internet cafe introduced him to a high-paying job in Nanjing and invited him for an interview. Upon reaching Fangchenggang in Guangxi, the teenager who received him in a van took him out for a meal. After consuming two beers, Zhang Jianhua lost consciousness – he had been drugged.
“I woke up on a boat,” Zhang Jianhua recalled. There were over a dozen people on the boat, all under the watch of armed guards throughout the journey. Even at sea, victims were unable to escape as jumping off the boat would mean death in the open sea. They traveled from Guangxi by sea to Vietnam, then entered Cambodia by land through Vietnam, with a tightly controlled and efficient transportation chain with armed personnel at every stage.
On the 27th of the same month, Zhang Jianhua was delivered to the so-called “intermediaries” – human traffickers. These intermediaries specialized in acquiring abducted individuals, training and torturing them to mold them into “products” that could be sold to fraudulent companies. While under the intermediaries’ custody, Zhang Jianhua was detained for five days and subjected to horrific inhumane torture.
“When in the hands of the traffickers, they don’t treat you as a human being,” Zhang Jianhua said. They were only allowed to visit three places each day and any disobedience would lead to severe beatings. The victims were beaten with various tools such as electric batons, mosquito swatter, data cables, keyboards, compelling them to memorize fraudulent scripts and practice writing. Only if they passed the “training” would they be sold to the bosses of the fraudulent companies. Those who did not cooperate or failed to learn were continuously beaten, deprived of food, sleep, sometimes handcuffed with one leg shackled for electric shocks.
The torture by the intermediaries was just the beginning. After being “selected,” Zhang Jianhua was sold to a fraudulent company, where the ordeal continued. His passport, ID, phone, and shoes were all confiscated. Due to refusing to engage in fraudulent activities, he continued to be beaten and punished with isolation in a dark room, sometimes segregated for two to three days with only a little water to drink.
Life at the fraudulent compound was akin to hell on earth. Zhang Jianhua described that both locals and Chinese individuals were involved in physical violence, but “the Chinese were more ruthless.” They used PC boards, data cables, chairs, stools, keyboards, and any available tools to beat non-compliant individuals.
Once, a drunken supervisor struck Zhang Jianhua, causing his teeth to break. Physical punishments like squats and push-ups were considered “less severe” penalties, as most of the time, victims were directly beaten or shocked with electricity.
Deaths within the fraudulent compound were frequent and the handling of such incidents was extremely hasty.
Zhang Jianhua witnessed the tragic plight of two “colleagues”: one convulsed and fell to the ground after being shocked, dragged by the boss to the restroom, never to be seen again, presumably handled by the “corpse collection team”; the other was beaten bloody with two large holes in his head, then disappeared.
The unbearable torture led Zhang Jianhua to despair. “Being tortured every day, if you change places with a normal person, wouldn’t you consider jumping off a building?” On January 17, 2024, after being in the fraudulent company for a little over ten days, Zhang Jianhua, battered and bruised, chose to jump off a building – hoping to escape; even if he failed, it would be better than enduring further torture.
The fall left Zhang Jianhua severely injured, with a shattered right femur, fractured nose, multiple broken teeth, extensive injuries, surviving with barely a thread of life. Due to his severe injuries, the first hospital refused to admit him, only accepting him at the second hospital. He was covered in blood, with blood streaming from his mouth and nose, in a semi-conscious state.
More shockingly, the original plan of the fraudulent compound boss was to bury Zhang Jianhua alive.
According to doctors who treated him, the boss offered the hospital ten thousand US dollars and another ten thousand to the compound’s property, demanding they bury Zhang Jianhua. Fortunately, both the hospital and property refused this request, insisting the boss pay for medical treatment. After receiving medical care in the hospital for ten days, the boss chose to flee – reportedly back to Myanmar.
With no one taking responsibility for the medical expenses, the hospital had no choice but to send Zhang Jianhua to the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia.
Currently, Zhang Jianhua and over a thousand similar Chinese victims are sheltered in an old airport approximately seven to eight kilometers from the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia, awaiting the processing of their repatriation documents. He has been at the shelter for five to six days, and the embassy stated it would take a week to process the repatriation documents.
The shelter conditions are very basic. There are toilets and places to wash face, but no bathing facilities. Some can find a spot to clean up, while others have to endure without. Individuals with severe injuries like Zhang Jianhua cannot wash even if they wanted to. The place provides only basic food and toilet facilities, nothing beyond the essentials.
The repatriation process involves the embassy arranging buses to transport the victims to the shelter, issuing repatriation documents, and contacting relatives to purchase plane tickets, with the costs to be borne by the families.
Zhang Jianhua mentioned that the prices of the tickets purchased through the embassy would be marked up by one to two thousand yuan. Regarding issues of imprisonment and fines, he stated that the specifics would only be known upon returning to China, but “many people say as long as they can return home, they will accept imprisonment or fines,” as most were either deceived or forcibly brought in.
The victims at the shelter share similar experiences. According to Zhang Jianhua’s observations, many of them were deceived – lured with promises of “high-paying jobs,” “assistance in tasks,” or “help in buying cars”; some were forcefully taken away, drugged, or threatened at gunpoint, even forcibly abducted while walking on the streets of Cambodia. There were also female victims, but their numbers were relatively fewer.
Zhang Jianhua particularly emphasized the dangers of traveling to Cambodia. “Coming to Cambodia could mean losing your life,” he warned, stating that even with visa-free policies, one should avoid traveling as they could easily fall victim to abduction.
“If you walk alone or with one or two people on the street, they might just force you into a car, or you might get drugged while buying a bottle of water or having a meal,” Zhang Jianhua warned. Regarding those willingly engaging in fraud, Zhang Jianhua believed they should be severely punished, saying, “Those deserving life imprisonment should receive it, those deserving a bullet should be shot.”
Regarding the subsequent situation at the compound, Zhang Jianhua learned that some facilities were reopened under pressure from the Cambodian government, but some bosses were uncooperative, leading to gunfights when law enforcement intervened.
In the early hours of February 1, the Wooden Sign compound erupted in gunfire. According to local travel agency staff, clashes occurred between fraudsters and Cambodian police, resulting in the deaths of six to eight Chinese individuals. When things got tense, many bosses fled, abandoning the companies, some escaping back to Myanmar, while others returned to China, only to potentially revive their operations after the dust settled.
What is even more worrisome is that even after this extensive crackdown, some individuals have resumed rebuilding fraudulent compounds. Zhang Jianhua expressed confusion and anger at this, questioning, “Knowing it causes harm, even death, why build it again?”
The conditions at this shelter are limited, providing only basic food and toilet facilities. Zhang Jianhua mentioned that the costs of repatriation requiring plane tickets must be borne by the families.
Several victims reported being deceived and taken out of the country for reasons like “high-paying jobs” or “assisting with tasks.”
It is worth noting that according to a report by Chinanews in May 2025, Wang Wenbin, the Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia, stated at the opening ceremony of the “China-Cambodia Tourism Year,” “Now is a good time to visit Cambodia.” Months later, the Cambodian government announced that in 2026, a visa-free policy would be implemented for Chinese citizens.
A 25-year-old victim named Li He (pseudonym) from Sichuan recently disclosed to Epoch Times that shortly after his family sought assistance from the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia, the fraudulent compound learned of their plea. He was publicly punished afterward and sold to another company, where the abuse intensified.
“If you report to the police or seek help from the embassy, you will only be betrayed,” Li He said. Eventually, his family paid approximately 250,000 RMB through unofficial channels to buy him back.
Shen Mingshi, a researcher at the Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security Studies, previously told Epoch Times that Southeast Asian telecom fraud compounds are not isolated but are linked to specific Chinese conglomerates, criminal organizations, and local power structures.
He pointed out that some casinos and compounds in Cambodia have long been operated jointly by politicians, businessmen, and underground forces, with individuals forced to engage in fraudulent activities. “Even if some compounds are cleared out, related groups may shift to other countries to continue operations.”
Shen Mingshi believes that combating such transnational crimes requires regional cooperation and systematic tracing of funds, personnel, and power relations, otherwise, eradication would be difficult.