More than 100 Kenyans remain trapped in Cambodia after fraudulent job offers lured them to the Southeast Asian nation under false pretenses.
Nancy Akinyi, 29, one of the victims, told media outlets that the stranded Kenyans are being held under strict restrictions and subjected to constant intimidation and threats.
“We are not free to leave. We are constantly intimidated, and our lives are in danger. The situation is urgent and getting worse,” she said in a message.
Akinyi traveled to Cambodia in May 2025 on a visitor visa after an agency promised her a cosmetology position. Upon arrival, she discovered that the job offer was entirely fake.
She alleged that some Kenyans have been sexually assaulted or beaten for refusing sexual advances, while others were injected with unknown substances and threatened with organ harvesting.
The 29-year-old also claimed that Kenya’s mission in Bangkok, which oversees diplomatic matters in Cambodia, has not responded to repeated pleas for help.
Interviews conducted with victims reveal that recruiters lured them into Cambodia with promises of legitimate job opportunities offering good pay and favorable working conditions, only to subject them to torture across various sectors.
“We were lured into Cambodia with promises of legitimate job opportunities offering good pay. Instead, they subjected us to forced labour and exploitation. We were used to generate income for the operators without receiving any payment,” another survivor reported.
Other victims revealed that traffickers sold them from one company to another for as little as Ksh387,000, forcing them to work without receiving any payment.
Kenya’s State Department for Diaspora Affairs has consistently warned citizens against accepting unverified job offers in Southeast Asia, a region increasingly linked to human trafficking, cyber fraud, and narcotics networks. However, these warnings have failed to deter desperate job-seekers.
The Cambodian case is just one example among many. Between February and April last year, the Awareness Against Human Trafficking (HAART) rescued 152 Kenyans from Myanmar.
Last week, another 51 Kenyans returned home after months trapped in scam centers. They were part of nearly 200 Kenyans freed during coordinated raids by Myanmar authorities in Karen State near the Thai border.
Cambodia sits on the edge of the Golden Triangle, a lawless corridor spanning parts of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand, long associated with narcotics trafficking and organized crime.
In recent years, criminal syndicates have transformed the region into a hub for cyber scams and human trafficking, luring foreign workers with fake job offers and confining them in compounds guarded by armed groups.
Regional security analysts note that Cambodian cities such as Sihanoukville have become magnets for transnational criminal networks, exploiting weak regulation, corruption, and porous borders to operate with impunity.
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