Caught in Cambodia’s Scam Machine: Part 1
Up First from NPR
NPR
4.6 • 59K Ratings
🗓️ 21 June 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
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Summary
In Cambodia, more than 200,000 scam workers have been released from fortified compounds, where many of them had been trafficked, held against their will, and forced to work for little pay. The Cambodian government’s recent crackdown has enabled reporters to get a closer look at an industry responsible for defrauding Americans of at least 20 billion dollars in 2025.
But how did these workers end up in Cambodia, and what was the promise that drew them there? In this two-part series for The Sunday Story, investigative reporter Shibani Mahtani dives into the previously hidden world of the global scam industry. And she follows the story of one Ugandan man, who traveled far from home for a job that was “too good to be true.”
Listen to Part 2 here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Aisha Roscoe, and you're listening to The Sunday Story from Up First. |
| 0:06.9 | So we've come in through the back now. Security guards stopped us. |
| 0:12.0 | They didn't allow me to take any photos. |
| 0:13.8 | Earlier this year, investigative reporter Shabani Matani visited a massive industrial complex outside of Cambodia's capital, |
| 0:23.3 | Panam Pin. It's set up like an office park, but it's fortified against the outside world. |
| 0:30.8 | There's Bob Boy all around, CCTVs, you can see lookout posts as well on the top of the buildings. |
| 0:40.3 | People once lived here, about 20,000 of them. |
| 0:44.3 | Looks like dormitories, sort of white buildings with black rails and with bars on the windows. |
| 0:53.3 | And it's clear that it was abruptly abandoned. |
| 0:56.9 | So much trash. |
| 0:58.5 | It's a whole little city. |
| 0:59.8 | I mean, Times Square could fit in this. |
| 1:02.4 | So all of these are hallmarks of a scam compound. |
| 1:05.1 | This cyber scam compound is among dozens in Cambodia |
| 1:09.2 | that operated with impunity for years. |
| 1:12.4 | Migrants were brought to these places from throughout Asia and Africa |
| 1:16.1 | and put to work scamming people on the other side of the world. |
| 1:21.5 | According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, |
| 1:24.9 | the cyber scam industry managed to defraud Americans of more |
| 1:29.6 | than $20 billion last year. And in 2024, experts estimated that profits from the cyber scamming |
| 1:37.6 | industry were equivalent to roughly half of Cambodia's formal GDP. |
| 1:53.5 | But in the last several months, under international pressure, the Cambodian government has accelerated a sweeping crackdown on the industry. |
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