As Cambodia’s scam crackdown deadline looms, criminal gangs flee

Young, naive and now sleeping rough on a plastic sheet outside their embassy in Phnom Penh, Indonesians Abdul* and Hafiz* are among the expendable human resources of Southeast Asia’s scam trade. After a year-long tumble through Cambodia’s vortex of scams, they were cast out onto a pavement – penniless and without passports – waiting for the embassy to issue new travel documents and a plane ticket home. “Our Chinese boss stole all of our passports,” said Abdul, 20, gesturing to a dozen or so o...

By Aidan Jones