|
|
柬埔寨海滨城市西哈努克市一座带有铁丝网围栏的建筑。当局称，在去年的突查行动中，他们已经发现了人口贩卖、绑架和酷刑证据。 CINDY LIU/REUTERS
Around the world, reports of cyberscam schemes targeting unsuspecting victims online have proliferated rapidly. Southeast Asia has become a center of gravity for those criminal syndicates, often in remote and war-torn corners. But in Cambodia, the scam industry has been flourishing well within the reach of officials.
在世界各地，以毫无戒心的受害者为目标的网络诈骗案大量涌现。东南亚已经成为此类犯罪团伙云集之地，通常位于那些偏远且饱受战争蹂躏的角落。但在柬埔寨，诈骗行业却在官方的眼皮底下蓬勃发展。
For much of last year, dozens of nations reported that criminal gangs operating in Cambodia had lured tens of thousands of people into the country with the promise of high-paying jobs and free housing. Instead, they were forced to work for online scam mills while under intense surveillance in nondescript compounds, part of a multibillion-dollar industry that has entrapped victims on both sides.
在去年的大部分时间里，有数十个国家报告说，活跃在柬埔寨的犯罪团伙以高薪和免费住房为诱饵，将数万人骗到该国。结果，他们被迫为网络诈骗公司工作，住在外表普通的院落里并受到严密监视，这是一个价值数十亿美元产业的一部分，该产业令被迫行骗者和受害者都陷入了困境。
Under pressure, Cambodia announced a crackdown in August 2022. Since then, the authorities have said they have rescued more than 2,000 citizens from other countries, shut down five companies and detained 95 people. But New York Times interviews with law enforcement, rights groups and rescued victims detail how the shadowy industry has nonetheless continued to thrive because of powerful businessmen with close ties to senior officials in the Cambodian government, and a system of patronage that protects the mills from being investigated by the police.
迫于压力，柬埔寨于2022年8月宣布要展开打击行动。当局表示，自那以后，他们已经解救出2000多名其他国家的公民，关闭了五家公司，拘留了95人。但《纽约时报》通过对执法部门、人权组织和获救受害者的采访，得以详细了解这个躲在暗处的行业究竟是如何倚仗与柬埔寨政府高级官员关系密切的权势商人，以及保护诈骗集团免受警方调查的靠山，至今仍能兴旺发达。
Despite the crackdown and well-documented evidence linking well-known Cambodian officials to the mills, the country has not arrested any major figure.
尽管采取了打击行动，而且有确凿证据表明柬埔寨的一些知名官员与这些诈骗公司有关，但该国尚未有任何重要人物因此遭到逮捕。
The victims say they answered ads that they thought were legitimate, promising high salaries. Once trafficked into these scam compounds, they were held captive and forced to defraud people. Many were told to entice victims online with fraudulent investment opportunities, the promise of interest-free loans or the chance to buy items on fake e-commerce apps. If they performed badly, they were sold to another scam mill. Those caught trying to escape were often beaten.
受害者表示，他们回复了许以高薪的广告，并没看出这些广告有什么破绽。一旦被拐卖到这些诈骗地点，他们就会被囚禁起来，被迫行骗。许多人得到授意，要用虚假的投资机会、无息贷款的许诺，以及在假的电商应用程序上购物的机会来诱骗受害者。如果表现不好，他们就会被卖给其他的骗子公司。那些试图逃跑的人，被抓获后往往会遭到毒打。
菲律宾人内森起初被许以在泰国从事客服工作。结果却被拐卖到柬埔寨，被迫在网上欺骗陌生人，并因反抗而遭到殴打。他设法回到了菲律宾，但仍然担心遭到报复。 EZRA ACAYAN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Roughly 10,000 people from around the world are trapped in such compounds in Cambodia, according to the U.S. State Department; many of the victims are from China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. The governments of these countries have worked with Cambodia to rescue their nationals, but the efforts have mostly been on a case-by-case basis.
据美国国务院的数据，约有1万名来自世界各地的人被困在柬埔寨的此类诈骗地点；许多受害者来自中国、越南、马来西亚和泰国。这些国家的政府与柬埔寨合作营救自己的国民，但这些努力主要是依个案来处理。
In June, Interpol said tens of thousands of people had been trafficked into Southeast Asia, starting first in Cambodia and then expanding into Myanmar and Laos. It warned that the trend of entrapping people to work for cyberscam mills was multiplying, turning what had been considered a regional crime threat into a “global human trafficking crisis.”
国际刑警组织在今年6月曾表示，有数万人被拐卖到东南亚，最早诈骗团伙是在柬埔寨，然后蔓延到缅甸和老挝。该机构警告，被骗的人为网络诈骗公司工作的趋势正在成倍扩大，导致一个原本视为区域性犯罪威胁的问题演变成了“全球人口拐卖危机”。
One Victim’s Escape
一次成功的受害者逃脱
In April, a 23-year-old Vietnamese man escaped from a white building in Cambodia’s Koh Kong Province, telling police he had been confined and ordered to work from 5:30 p.m. until 11 a.m. daily, according to a senior police officer from the area who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
据当地一名高级警官说，今年4月，一名23岁的越南男子从柬埔寨戈公省的一栋白色建筑中逃脱，他告诉警方，自己失去了人身自由，每天被迫从下午5点半开始工作直至次日上午11点。由于没有获得接受媒体采访的授权，该警官要求匿名。
The man told the officer that he was forced to cheat victims online and had asked to leave, but his captors demanded a ransom of around $2,000. To escape, the man jumped from a window and ran into a jungle.
这名逃出来的男子告诉警察，他被迫在网上行骗，自己曾经提出洗手不干的要求，但绑架者索要约2000美元的赎金。为了逃跑，这名男子从窗户跳下，跑进了丛林。
The senior police officer he spoke to was aware of what was happening at the compound — many victims had also asked to be rescued. But the officer knew that it was nearly impossible to get inside.
与他交谈的高级警官知道那个院子里的情况——还有许多受害者也在寻求救助。但那名警官知道，想要进入那里几乎是不可能的。
To do so, he said, required special permission from the Interior Ministry because of who is said to own the building: Senator Ly Yong Phat, one of Cambodia’s wealthiest tycoons and a personal adviser to Hun Manet, who took over from his father, Hun Sen, as prime minister last week.
他说，这需要获得内政部的特别许可，因为据说这栋建筑属于参议员李永法，他是柬埔寨最有钱的富豪之一，也是上周接替父亲洪森出任柬埔寨首相的洪玛奈的私人顾问。
Somkhit Vien, the deputy governor of Koh Kong, said the authorities had rescued 17 foreign nationals from India, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand from compounds belonging to Senator Ly Yong Phat or his company, the LYP Group, since January. Mr. Ly Yong Phat did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
戈公省副省长索姆吉·文表示，自今年1月以来，当局已从参议员李永法或其公司LYP集团的大院里救出了17名来自印度、中国、新加坡、马来西亚、印度尼西亚和泰国的外国人。李永法没有回应记者多次提出的置评请求。
Characterizing the issue more as a workplace dispute than a crime, Mr. Somkhit Vien said there had been no reports of torture and that, in some instances, people asking for rescue wanted to leave but were not allowed because they had not cleared their “debt” with the companies. Many victims say that after being trafficked into the compounds, they were told that they could not leave until they paid a debt, or ransom, of thousands of dollars.
索姆吉·文把这个问题定性为职场纠纷而非犯罪。他说，没有关于拷打的报告，在某些情况下，要求救援的人希望离开，但因为没有还清公司的“债务”而遭到拒绝。许多受害者表示，在被拐卖到这些地方后，他们得到的说法是，除非偿还数千美元的债务或支付赎金，否则不能离开。
No evidence has emerged that directly links Senator Ly Yong Phat to the cyberscam operations. But activists say tycoons like him play a crucial role: providing the cover to evade police scrutiny.
目前还没有证据表明参议员李永法与网络诈骗活动有着直接联系。但维权人士表示，像他这样的富豪扮演着至关重要的角色：为逃避警方的调查提供掩护。
Cyber Scam Monitor, a group documenting the abuses that take place in the industry, has identified seven people it says have ties to businessmen who manage buildings that house cyberscam operations. Some are senators, including Mr. Ly Yong Phat; others are officials, tycoons or relatives of officials or tycoons.
网络诈骗监测(Cyber Scam Monitor)是一个记录该产业滥权行为的机构。该组织已经确认了七名与诈骗地点的管理者存在关联的人。其中一些人是参议员，包括李永法；还有一些则是官员、富豪，或者他们的亲属。
Even if the owners of the compounds are not directly involved in human rights abuses, they still bear responsibility “by virtue of their linkage to those businesses operating within the compounds,” said Pichamon Yeophantong, the chairwoman of the U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights.
联合国工商业与人权工作组主席皮查蒙·约范同说，即使这些地点的所有者没有直接参与侵犯人权的行为，他们仍要承担责任，“因为他们与在这些大院里经营的企业存在联系”。
A Botched Raid
一次失败的突击搜查
Over the past year, law enforcement officers from China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia and Vietnam have sought to rescue their citizens trapped in Cambodia. Several have found themselves stymied by the Cambodian police.
过去一年里，来自中国、越南、香港、台湾、印度尼西亚和越南的执法人员试图营救困在柬埔寨的公民。有些执法者发现自己受到了柬埔寨警方的阻挠。
Thailand’s deputy national police chief, Gen. Surachate Hakparn, has accused the Cambodian police of being complicit in the country’s online scam operations and of not doing enough to hold officials responsible. When he arrived in the country last April to rescue more than 3,000 Thais he had identified in 17 locations, the Cambodian authorities tried to sabotage the mission, he said, and only about 100 were rescued.
泰国国家警署副署长素拉差·哈班将军指责柬埔寨警方参与了该国的网络诈骗活动，而且没有采取足够措施追究有关官员的责任。他说，去年4月，当他抵达柬埔寨，准备营救已经确认关在17个地点的3000多名泰国人时，柬埔寨当局从中作梗，结果仅营救出约100人。
During one operation in the coastal resort city of Sihanoukville, General Surachate said he knew victims were on the seventh, eighth and ninth floors of a hotel building. But on the day of the raid, he received a tip from an informant who said Cambodian authorities had moved the workers.
在海滨度假城市西哈努克市的一次行动中，素拉差说，他本来知道被受害者关在一座酒店的七层、八层和九层。但在突袭当天，他收到一名线人的线报，称柬埔寨当局已经将这批人转移。
General Surachate said he confronted Cambodia’s then-police chief, Neth Savoeun, and accused him of trying to wreck the mission. “He deflected, saying the hotel owner didn’t cooperate,” General Surachate said. Last week, Mr. Neth Savoeun, who is married to a niece of Mr. Hun Sen, was promoted to deputy prime minister. He did not respond to a request for comment through a police spokesman.
素拉差说，他与柬埔寨当时的警察总监内萨文对峙，指责他试图破坏这次任务。“他转移了话题，称酒店老板不合作，”素拉差说。上周，与洪森侄女结婚的内萨文被提升为副首相。他没有回应通过警方发言人提出的置评请求。
柬埔寨前首相洪森在7月的大选中投票。本月，他将权力移交给了自己的儿子。 TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
General Surachate called the crackdown in Cambodia “all drama,” and said he is holding out hope that a coming joint operation with the Chinese police with the permission of the Cambodian authorities will help him rescue the remaining 3,000 Thais trapped in Cambodia.
素拉差称柬埔寨的打击行动“完全是闹剧”，并表示，他希望借助得到柬埔寨当局许可、与中国警方即将展开的联合行动，可以营救出困在柬埔寨的其余3000名泰国人。
Shutting any individual mill or rescuing those inside does not address the larger problem, said Jacob Sims, an adviser at the International Justice Mission, a human rights group.
人权组织“国际正义使命”(International Justice Mission)的顾问雅各布·西姆斯表示，仅仅靠关闭任何一家诈骗公司或营救出里面的受害者，并不能从根本上解决问题。
“Without a strong focus on perpetrator accountability, one compound may close, but another will likely open in its place as long as the risk to doing so remains low,” Mr. Sims said. He estimates that the overall revenue generated from these operations in Cambodia could exceed $12 billion a year, based on official figures and victim statements.
“如果不大力追究犯罪者的责任，也许能取缔一个窝点，但只要这样做的风险不高，另一个很可能会取而代之，”西姆斯说。他估计，按照官方数据和受害者的说法，网络诈骗每年为柬埔寨可能带来超过120亿美元的收入。
来源：阿龙闯荡记
|
|
发表于 2023-9-9 13:03
