If you type “Cambodia jobs” into Facebook search box, countless job offers will pop up in a matter of seconds. They come with common catch phrases such as “stable income, over VND20 million per month, no entry fee, no experience required, simple typist position, official visa” and many more.
Many gullible young people have contacted these groups and individuals without their families’ knowledge, and got transported across the Cambodian border under the guise of employment traveling or through illegal means. Many scammers are even willing to make advance payment to lure in workers.
Mr. T. from Hue City fell victim to such a scam. After T was trapped in Cambodia for over a month, his family had to pay more than VND60 million as ransom to get him back.
Not everyone is as lucky as T. After being trafficked to the neighboring country, many were subjected to forced labor and found themselves unable to escape.
A Hue woman named Thi recounted how her brother was tricked and taken to Cambodia by sea, then confined alongside many other Vietnamese. Every day, the trafficked victims had to do labor-intensive work for 15 to 16 hours and got physically abused by managers. After a month, Thi’s brother could not stand it anymore and asked to leave. The company then asked him to pay over VND90 million dong as compensation for violating the labor contract. Running out of options, the young man had to tell his family to transfer money to the scammers.
The Thua-Thien Hue Provincial Criminal Police Department has received over 10 missing people reports from people whose relatives were illegally trafficked to Cambodia.
In order to prevent and put an end to the situation, the Thua-Thien Hue Criminal Police Department has given directions to local security departments on how to combat human trafficking for the purpose of imposing debt bondage to foreign countries and Cambodia in particular.
The need of workers to find a stable job is legitimate. However, citizens need to look up information on the employer, or contact legal labor export agencies that have been licensed by the government to avoid losing money to scammers that promise easy jobs with high pay.
