On May 27th, the court in Kampot Province, Cambodia, unanimously sentenced six Chinese men for their involvement in torturing and murdering 22-year-old South Korean university student, Park Min-ho, to life imprisonment. Just before Cambodia’s severe punishment for Chinese telecom fraudsters, the United States imposed sanctions on a Chinese-Cambodian senator, accusing him of controlling nationwide telecom fraud centers in Cambodia.
Park Min-ho, the victim, was a student at a university in Chungcheongnam-do and went missing after traveling to Cambodia in July last year under the pretext of attending an exhibition.
According to the investigation results released by the Cambodian police, Park Min-ho went to Cambodia due to believing in high-paying job opportunities, but upon his arrival on July 17, 2025, he was abducted by a criminal group and forced into telecom fraud activities.
Shortly after, Cambodian police intercepted a suspicious vehicle in Poipet City, Kampot Province, where a male body was found inside. It was confirmed that the deceased was Park Min-ho, who had been missing for several days. Subsequently, the police launched a large-scale investigation and arrested several Chinese suspects one after another.
The autopsy results were shocking, revealing the severe torture Park Min-ho had endured. Quoting a report from the Korean government published in November last year, Reuters reported that the 22-year-old victim died from blunt force injuries after being beaten and tortured.
According to confessions from the suspects, the police later raided a villa on the mountain in Poipet and discovered that the location was not only a telecom fraud hub but also where the victims were illegally detained and abused.
The case quickly sparked strong reactions in South Korea, prompting Seoul to take diplomatic action by issuing a “black alert” travel ban.
Reports from the Cambodia-China Times stated that the mastermind of the case was a 42-year-old Chinese man who had been residing in Thailand, remotely commanding telecom fraud and related criminal activities within Cambodia. Earlier this year, local law enforcement authorities launched a transnational manhunt operation, eventually capturing him in Pattaya, Thailand.
During the sentencing on May 27 at the Kampot Province Intermediate Court, it was noted that the evidence, facts, and legal basis submitted by the prosecution were sufficient to prove the guilt of the six defendants, hence sentencing them to life imprisonment.
Regarding this judgment, a spokesperson from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on the 28th that China had already “urged overseas citizens to abide by local laws.”
The case of Park Min-ho is not an isolated incident; the issue of fraud centers in Southeast Asia has raised high levels of concern within the international community.
The United Nations estimated that hundreds of thousands of people had worked in these fraud centers, which have been accused of illegal detention, human trafficking, forced labor, and transnational financial frauds. A report from the US government stated that just in 2024, Southeast Asian fraud centers caused losses of up to $10 billion to American citizens.
In October 2025, the US Department of Justice formally charged Chen Zhi, the founder of the Prince Group, in a federal court in New York for crimes including telecom fraud and money laundering. Authorities seized about 127,000 bitcoins, valued at up to $15 billion at the time (approximately 106.9 billion RMB).
The indictment stated that since 2015, Chen Zhi had been utilizing companies established by the Prince Group in over 30 countries globally to secretly build and operate at least 10 forced labor fraud centers in Cambodia. Hundreds of individuals were lured or trafficked there and subjected to imprisonment, torture, and forced engagement in large-scale cryptocurrency investment fraud activities – known as “pig slaughtering.”
Shortly after the US brought criminal charges, Chen Zhi was arrested in Cambodia in January this year and extradited to China, with the case involving a broader scope. It was reported that Chen Zhi had close ties to former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Just a month ago, the US government launched a massive inter-departmental operation to crack down on a criminal network headquartered in Southeast Asia that targeted American citizens with large-scale telecom fraud activities.
On April 23, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against Cambodian Senator Guo An (Kok An, also known as Fu Guo’an), accusing him of controlling telecom fraud centers throughout Cambodia. Along with him, 28 individuals and entities within his network were also placed on the sanctions list.
Guo An is a Cambodian of Chinese descent, with ancestral roots in Guangdong Province. As a senior senator of the ruling party in Cambodia (the People’s Party), he has been a long-term core confidant of former Prime Minister Hun Sen, overseeing various business interests linked to political power. Within Cambodia’s current political framework, Guo An’s business empire is intricately connected to local Chinese investments.
As we delve into these recent events, the intricate web of international crime and its far-reaching consequences become increasingly apparent, shining a light on the grim realities of fraudulent activities that transcend borders.