According to the Associated Press, the South Korean government has estimated that there are slightly more than 1,000 South Korean citizens engaged in "fraud" in Cambodia, but the latest data show that the actual number is far more than this.

The gap between South Korea¡¯s number of expatriates to Cambodia and the number of Koreans returning to Cambodia has grown dramatically since 2021, according to data obtained from the Ministry of Justice on the 20th of June. The figure has grown to 3,209 in 2022, 2,662 in 2023, 3,248 in 2024, and has remained in the size of two or three thousand for three consecutive years. This means that thousands of Koreans have stayed in Cambodia every year and have not returned. As of August this year, approximately 864 people have not returned.

On the other hand, the report said that the number of Koreans who entered the country according to the Cambodian Immigration General Bureau is higher, almost twice the number of Koreans in some years.

Yonhap News Agency said that in view of the above situation, some people believe that in order to properly rescue Korean citizens who have been detained, kidnapped, and violently violated, it is imperative to fully grasp the actual scale of Koreans involved in Cambodian electronic fraud.

On the 18th of this month, the South Korean police informed that 64 Korean suspects detained in Cambodia on suspicion of participating in online fraud returned to South Korea on the same day, and they will be investigated by the police. According to reports, Cambodia began to launch a nationwide campaign against online fraud in July. Cambodia's Committee to Combat Online Fraud said on the 15th that the country has arrested 3,455 online fraud suspects in the past four months, and the arrested suspects are from 20 countries, including South Korea. Cambodia has previously repatriated 180 Korean citizens suspected of online fraud.

In August this year, a South Korean college student was detained, tortured and killed after being lured to work in Cambodia, arousing anger among South Korean people. South Korea has previously sent a working group to Cambodia to handle relevant cases. The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a notice on October 15 saying that in view of the recent surge in cases of job fraud and illegal detention in some areas of Cambodia, starting from the 16th of this month, the South Korean government has implemented a four-level travel alert for some areas of Cambodia.