A woman who used to work in a “chatting” role in a scam operation at the Mondulkiri Vegetable and Fruit Wholesale Market in Cambodia’s Mondulkiri province offered to share her story. Mekong Independent is publishing her account with only a few edits for clarity.
My name is Ama, 32 years old and a single mother of two with a degree in Public Administration.
A friend was added to a Telegram group offering jobs, and she had got one already so she advised me to join the group thinking it was a legitimate job for IT knowledge and data entry. Upon joining the chat I was only asked about my typing speed and whether I was fluent in English. So I had all the qualifications and I was hired on 20 November 2025.
They offered me a salary of $1,200, which I didn’t get upon arrival.
I arrived Cambodia on 20 November 2025 by air. A driver was already waiting for me at the airport and dropped me at the destination. [A reporter for Mekong Independent reviewed coordinates provided of the location and matched it to the Mondulkiri Vegetable & Fruit Wholesale Market, as identified by Cyberscam Monitor.]
Since it was my first time in Cambodia, I was so scared because it was a very long distance from the airport to the final destination and also being deep in the village worried me a lot. However when I found some fellow Africans in the camp I was a bit relieved.
I think we were like 70 workers in my office but the majority were Pakistanis and there were about 20 Africans.
My role was to chat people offering them jobs, and those who accepted were referred to the team leader. The situation inside wasn’t so bad as long as you followed the instructions.
You were only tortured when you disobeyed or failed to reach the set target. This was really disturbing since you had to put in more effort to do something that’s against your will.
The company closed on 16 January 2026. They handed back our passports and asked us to leave in the middle of the night, so we all rushed to pack our bags and moved to the roadside. I was with some friends so we stopped a car and asked him to drop us at the bus station and he charged us $70. So we slept at the bus station, and booked a bus to Phnom Penh in the morning. On arrival in Phnom Penh, it was already night again, so we got a tuk-tuk and asked him to find us a cheap hotel nearby, which we got after a 20-minute drive. I stayed in a hotel for over two months which has made it difficult for me to raise money to buy a plane ticket, since most of the flights are expensive. I finally got shelter from Caritas Cambodia and I’m still trying to contact friends and family to help me raise funds and book my air ticket.
The situation at Caritas is very OK. We are given three meals a day plus hygiene products. I’m so grateful that at least they managed to help me.