"O’Smach Resort, Long Linked to Cyber Scams and Sanctioned by US, Sees Worker Revolt Amid Anti-Trafficking Gaps", 9 January 2025

Nearly 60 foreign workers who revolted against their unidentified Chinese employer at the notorious O’Smach Resort, owned by U.S.-sanctioned L.Y.P. Group and linked to scam operations and trafficked labor, await deportation as authorities show little sign of following the expected procedures in a case emblematic of Cambodia’s illicit scam industry.

Oddar Meanchey deputy police chief Ream Sar confirmed 57 foreigners, mostly Pakistani and Nepali nationals, revolted at O’Smach Resort ... Armed with metal rods, they bypassed security guards in an apparent escape attempt.

“We don’t know what they were doing inside the casino. They said they were working overtime and protested their conditions to the company director,” Sar said…

According to the official police statement, the foreigners were reportedly employed by a company in Preah Sihanouk Province for 2 to 3 months without pay before being sent to O’Smach Resort. Fearing similar wage issues and facing unrelenting labor, they armed themselves with rods made from bed frames and forced their way out of the resort’s facilities.

… O’Smach has been raided more than once in the past three years after reports of forced labor and online scams. The U.S. Treasury Department identified the property as “responsible for or complicit in, or have directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuses.”

… National Police spokesperson Chea Pov, said that officers are investigating the worker revolt and apparent escape from O’Smach.

… Ly Yong Phat hung up immediately when a … reporter identified himself while seeking comment on the recent breakout…