Thousands of foreign nationals recently released or escaped from Cambodian scamming compounds urgently need humanitarian aid, Amnesty International said Tuesday. Many of these people were reportedly trafficked into the compounds, and their testimonies highlighted the immediate dangers faced by them following their release, with no money, passports, medical care, or ways to reach safety.

Amnesty International spoke to 35 compound survivors, all released or escaped in the past 6 weeks, with two pregnant women and several survivors reporting rape by their compound managers. Others also reported witnessing deaths after compound managers restricted medical access. They described witnessing torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, including “a man who had his finger cut off as a punishment.”

Amnesty’s regional research director Montse Ferrer said, “The people we have spoken to are deeply afraid. They urgently need their own governments to step in and help. They want to return home, but many have no passports or no money, let alone enough to purchase a flight out of the country.”

Some survivors reported being forced to escape, while others left voluntarily after managers abandoned compounds. One survivor, who escaped from a compound near Phnom Penh in Prey Veng, told Amnesty:

Many people died. We even try to put together money to help repatriate the bodies. People got sick, but they don’t help us. I told them I couldn’t breathe. When we forced our way out, one guard shot his gun in the air. We had to force our way out because one guy is sick and he doesn’t want to die.

“I had been in the compound for 12 months, fearing for my life. But one day, several of us woke up and realized the compound managers had left the site, and the security guards were gone. The doors and gates were left open, and we walked out,” said another survivor.

Under international law, Cambodia has a responsibility to ensure that its citizens are not held in slavery or required to partake in forced labour. Amnesty International previously called on the Cambodian government to investigate and shut down scamming compounds.

The rights group carried out an investigation in June 2025 by visiting 50 scamming compounds located across the country. The researchers described the compounds as “designed to keep people inside,” with features such as surveillance cameras, barbed wire, and many armed security personnel. Survivors reportedly believed they were applying for genuine jobs, but were instead held in scamming compounds and forced to conduct scams.

Although the reason for the recent releases is unclear, the situation follows the Cambodian government’s pledge to intensify law enforcement against digital scams. In January, the government attended the Commission for Combatting Online Scams (CCOS) meeting, reviewing progress in eradicating scam operations. 

The international pressure against scam operations in Cambodia has escalated in recent months, with Cambodia extraditing Chen Zhi, the head of the Prince Group, to China to face criminal charges for allegedly operating scam compounds. The US has also sanctioned and charged Chen Zhi, seizing $15 billion worth of cryptocurrency.