According to the Foreign Ministry’s overseas safety website on the 19th, Japan issued a “recommendation to suspend travel” in some areas bordering Thailand in Cambodia, and classified the rest of the areas as requiring “sufficient attention.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ risk information is divided into four stages, and the recommendation to stop travelling is the second highest level after the ‘evacuation recommendation’. Sufficient caution is issued in areas with the lowest risk, and ‘unnecessary stop of travel’ is issued in areas with the second lowest risk.
In particular, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned of fraud in job placement. “Recently, there have been a number of cases in which people are encouraged to go abroad for good conditions such as ‘high profit in a short period of time’ and ‘simple translation work’,” the ministry said. “There have been a number of cases in which people are encouraged to go abroad, deprived of their passports and means of contact immediately after arriving in Cambodia, and forced them to engage in illegal activities such as phone fraud while confinement is restricted from going out.”
“There are not a few cases where the victim and the perpetrator are foreigners,” he said. “If you are considering getting a job in Cambodia with the introduction of your acquaintances, you should check your creditworthiness and safety.”
Earlier, the Japanese Embassy in Cambodia posted a similar article on its website in August 2022.
Despite these warnings, fraud cases based in Cambodia continue. The Aichi Prefectural Police managed 29 Japanese people on the 7th and arrested two Chinese people who committed phone fraud. They are accused of calling a Japanese resident of Aichi Prefecture in Poipet, northwest Cambodia, impersonating a police officer and stealing 5 million yen.
Japanese police received information from a man who returned from Cambodia in January this year that “a Japanese man is committing phone fraud under 8 Chinese people,” and local authorities in Cambodia arrested 29 Japanese and delivered them to Japan, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.
EJ SONG
US ASIA JOURNAL
