Jakarta. Puspa, a young woman from Yogyakarta, thought she was on her way to a decent job in Thailand. Instead, she found herself trafficked and forced into an online scam syndicate in Cambodia, becoming a victim of cross-border job scams that continue to prey on Indonesians seeking work abroad.

It began with a Facebook message from a woman offering Puspa a kitchen staff job in Thailand, promising a monthly salary of $900 (Rp14.5 million), more than six times Yogyakarta’s minimum wage.

 After a month of chats and video calls, Puspa was sent a ticket not to Thailand, but to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. There, she was taken across the border into Cambodia and “sold” at what she described as a human marketplace, eventually ending up in a building with around 45 men working as online scammers.

“I was looking for a job on Facebook and posted my experience. A woman messaged me, offering a job,” Puspa recalled.

With no background in IT, Puspa was forced to join a scam operation targeting Indonesians. Victims were lured into downloading suspicious apps, gradually losing money from small deposits to tens of millions of rupiah. “If you see suspicious links, just leave and block them,” Puspa urged.

She faced daily threats and violence, with syndicates demanding she scam victims for up to Rp 300 million monthly or risk beatings, pay deductions, and even torture. “Some friends were electrocuted or thrown from the third floor,” she said.

After contacting the Indonesian Embassy, Puspa spent a month in Cambodian immigration detention before being deported home, where she is now under the care of the Yogyakarta Social Affairs Office and undergoing rehabilitation.

“We assist victims with mental, physical, religious, and vocational support, including culinary, sewing, and salon training,” said Widianto from the Social Affairs Office. Rehabilitation programs can last three months to three years, aiming to help victims regain independence.

Puspa now hopes to open her own food business. “Don’t fall for instant promises. Work through the process; the real rewards come later,” she advised.

Despite her ordeal, Puspa is among the lucky ones. In a separate tragedy, Azwar, a 32-year-old singer from Asahan, North Sumatra, died in Cambodia after reportedly jumping from the third floor of his accommodation while trapped in a scam syndicate. Initially recruited by an agent for a performance in Malaysia, Azwar was instead taken to Cambodia and forced into online scam work under threats of torture if he failed to meet targets.

Before his death, Azwar told his family he was threatened with electric shocks, beatings, and being thrown into the sea if he could not pay a Rp40 million ransom demanded by his handlers. His brother, Abdul Azis, said the family managed to send Rp15 million, but the contact disappeared, and shortly after, they received news of Azwar’s death.

Recently, Foreign Minister Sugiono reported that Indonesia recorded 7,600 online scam-related cases involving citizens in Southeast Asia from 2021 to 2025, with 4,300 in Cambodia and 1,100 in Myanmar. Of these, 1,508 cases were linked to human trafficking.

Sugiono called for preventive approaches, including early education for prospective migrant workers on legal procedures and job verification, while coordinating with lawmakers to protect vulnerable Indonesian communities abroad.

The Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh saw a sharp rise in Indonesian nationals entering Cambodia, with 166,795 recorded in 2024, an elevenfold increase from 14,564 in 2020. The embassy recorded 92 Indonesian nationals who died in Cambodia throughout 2024. By comparison, only one such case was recorded in 2020.

Most deaths were linked to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, along with infectious diseases like tuberculosis and HIV. The breakdown included 39 cases of heart disease and stroke, 19 cases of lung infections including TB and pneumonia, 11 from traffic and other accidents, six from diabetes and organ failure, five from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, four from cancer, epilepsy, and dengue fever, and eight from other causes, including suicide and deaths upon hospital arrival.