SEOUL – In a significant legal move, South Korean authorities are pushing for the arrest of most of the 64 nationals recently sent back from Cambodia, who are suspected of participating in online scam operations there, police announced on Monday.

The 64 individuals had been detained in Cambodia over recent months and were returned to South Korea via a chartered flight on Saturday. Upon their arrival, they were taken into custody as police launched an investigation to determine whether their involvement with scam operations in Cambodia was voluntary or coerced.

Online scams, particularly those originating in Southeast Asia, have surged since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. These scams have produced two types of victims: those who are forced into scam operations under duress, and the individuals who fall prey to these fraudulent schemes. According to monitoring organizations, these online scams generate billions of dollars for international crime syndicates each year.

Following police requests, state prosecutors have urged local courts to issue arrest warrants for 58 of the 64 individuals, as stated by the Korean National Police Agency. The suspects are believed to have participated in various fraudulent activities, including romance scams, fake investment schemes, and voice phishing, primarily targeting fellow South Koreans. The courts are expected to decide on the issuance of these arrest warrants in the coming days.

Five individuals have been released, but the police have withheld information regarding their release, citing ongoing investigations.

Additionally, South Korean police reported that four of the returnees claimed they were subjected to physical abuse while being held against their will in scam centers in Cambodia.

South Korea faces public calls to take stronger action to protect its nationals from being forced into overseas online scam centers, after one of its nationals was found dead in Cambodia in August. He was reportedly lured by a friend to travel to Cambodia to provide his bank account to be used by a scam organization. Authorities in Cambodia said the 22-year-old university student was tortured.

Estimates from the U.N. and other international agencies say that at least 100,000 people have been trafficked to scam centers in Cambodia, with a similar number in Myanmar and tens of thousands more in other countries.

Officials in Seoul estimate that some 1,000 South Koreans are in scam centers in Cambodia, and last week, South Korean authorities imposed a travel ban on parts of Cambodia and sent a government delegation to Cambodia to discuss joint steps.

Online scam centers were previously concentrated in Southeast Asian countries including Cambodia and Myanmar, with most of the trafficked and other workers coming from Asia. But an Interpol report in June said the past three years have seen victims trafficked to Southeast Asia from distant regions including South America, Western Europe and Eastern Africa and that new centers have been reported in the Middle East, West Africa and Central America.