A woman was found dead today in Phnom Penh on the street outside Prince Central Plaza. This area of compound like buildings has previously been linked to cyber scam operations, as well as allegations of human trafficking and forced labor. Deatairs are still developing.

Huione Guarantee- the biggest ever online criminal marketplace - has been removed from Telegram. Me and Lindsey Kennedy’s @MoscowTimes investigation shows how Telegram has become the digital playground for the world's worst. t.co/wBFF52l0xb

"Our investigation found that some schools willingly enter into these criminal arrangements. Others, desperately in need of resources, simply accept scholarships or funding from tycoons and criminal-linked entities..." our latest with @thediplomat.com thediplomat.com/2025/05/gate...

Cambodia: Great piece from @nathanpaulsouthern.bsky.social & Lindsey Kennedy. "Our investigation found that some schools willingly enter into these criminal arrangements. Others, desperately in need of resources, simply accept scholarships or funding from tycoons and criminal-linked entities..."

Myself and Lindsey Kennedy go into how North Korea links up to the cyber slavery trade and other organised crime connections funding the regime just now. globalinitiative.net/analysis/whe...

Me and Lindsey Kennedy rattle on about how the cyber slavery and Asian organized crime crisis is going global but how this connects to USAID cuts and the difficulty in covering under-reported conflict and humanitarian crisis in the world’s less spoken about regions. youtu.be/psXkYhsTE50?...

Myself and Lindsey Kennedy’s latest discussion with Andy Stumpf explores the growth of the cyber crime and slavery crisis and how this booming organised crime trade is interescting with conflict and corruption on a global scale. youtu.be/psXkYhsTE50?...

Good Work from SCMP, but we should be cautious with terms like "crackdown." There Was no Cambo crackdown—rather, it staged a faux show of force , and the compounds resumed operations within days or weeks. Myanmar's ‘crackdown’ appears to also be largely performative. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJWj...

Myself and Lindsey Kennedy look into how North Korea is increasingly developing relationships with organised crime syndicates, state governments and the rapidly growing cyber scam industry to raise money for the state. globalinitiative.net/analysis/whe...

That's the torch officially passed, my time as OPCC president was cut short, but I have total faith in our new El Presidenté @nathanpaulsouthern.bsky.social

The Oversees Press Club of Cambodia (OPCC) have had their annual elections and I have the delight of taking over as president for the next year. Any comments here are my my own views and not the OPCC but please get in touch for any media in Cambodia related chats. opc-cambodia.org/about-the-op...

“If in the next few months, a few key figures aren't sanctioned by Western countries, then it's beginning to seem like there really is no limit for what these criminal syndicates can do, and they can just keep growing,” Southern said My thoughts in CNA www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/scammin...

“It's not stopped. It's moved to other compounds that are rapidly developing further down the river and it's growing everywhere in the region. And I think the world really needs to not take its eyes off this,” My thoughts in CNA for EyeWitness Project. www.linkedin.com/posts/the-ey...

This was an absolutely great chat we had @jameskennedy.bsky.social! Let’s do another pod soon, mate!

Myself, Lindsey Kennedy, our incredible team at the EyeWitness Project who we can't name for security reasons and America's most prolific scam fighter- Erin West- documented the terrifying growth of cyber slavery, human traffickign and scam compounds throughout 1000 miles of Cambodia.

Cambodia: @nathanpaulsouthern.bsky.social: "pretty much everyone is self-censoring, quitting the profession or running away. Reporting on environmental issues is especially dangerous, but covering other crises... [is] getting people killed or arrested, too." Article 🖊️: @tommywalker.bsky.social

Reports of arrests, rescues and closures of scam operations through Myanmar's Shwe Kokko and KK park is great news. But, predictably, operations have already been found to be growing at a rapid rate in the valley along the Moei River.

Here I am rambling to Mike Graham about the Global scam and human trafficking crisis and discussing some of the work that the EyeWitness Project has been doing on this. m.youtube.com/watch?v=msMY...

Myself and Lindsey Kennedy's long form feature in explores how Cambodia has been transformed into a hub for organised crime, human trafficking and scam activity and who the people are behind this. www.thedial.world/articles/new...

Some progress today with the Thai Deputy PM and Defence Minister announcing that they will cut power to 5 scam compound locations inside Myanmar on the Thai border. www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/202...

Myself and Lindsey Kennedy's latest podcast appearance looks at how foreign mercenary groups, Erik Prince, Wagner and the UK's Rwanda migration plan all played a role in destabilising the DRC before the fall of Goma. www.patreon.com/posts/121431...

@geraldrflynn.bsky.social, one of the best environmental reporters in Cambodia has been banned and kicked out the country. Journalists are being deported, arrested and killed while immense wealth in the top echelons of the Cambodian government grow immensely. t.co/Ol6Nrrazvy

Highly recommend this excellent excellent coverage! Very relevant right now

What you have is a modern day colonial structure where international corporations are exploiting the DRC for their vast mineral wealth and the people of the country are being rewarded with slave like conditions” -my thoughts on the DRC for WION News Doc.

What you have is a modern day colonial structure where international corporations are exploiting the DRC for their vast mineral wealth and the people of the country are being rewarded with slave like conditions” -my thoughts on the DRC for WION News Doc. m.youtube.com/watch?v=VQR0vg…

I am just waiting until Trump announces that Erik Prince or Frontier Services Group are being entrusted to bring stability to the Congo. Or when we found out this was agreed days ago.

Hundreds of foreign mercenaries have been captured in Goma by Rwandan authorities. Myself and @LindsAKennedy look at who these white fighters in the Congo really are. Erik Prince- Wagner-Romanians-of course the French...it's really something www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/05/27/i...

Several rubber plantation owners making agreements with gov to close to the public when they sit between the Lumphat Widllife Sanctuary and the Vietnam border. Rubber plantations could, hypothetically of course, be used to store and transport a substantial quantity of timber and wildlife.

For anyone wanting to know more about the role that the UK played in fuelling Rwanda and M23's takeover of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo then please check out me and Lindsey Kennedy's conversation with Jake Hanrahan on the Popular Front podcast. open.spotify.com/episode/5Rjz... .

While fighting Goma continues, the UK has made no admission of their role in sending £300 million to the Rwandan government just as the Rwandan backed M23 were launching the very offensive that led to them seizing Goma.

Goma, in the eastern DRC, is being invaded by Rwanda and is about to fall. Rwadan backed M23 rebels began their most recent offensive about the time when the UK send hundreds of millions to Rwanda. The UK has a lot to answer for. We discuss this here: bylinetimes.com/2024/02/19/r...

Looking for teachers who interacted with Steila/Gaingoal International School in Phnom Penh for help in an ongoing investigation. I am also looking for anyone who has interacted with Heang Sovannarith or Hy Kimhong in the context of this school. Happy to discuss more details when you get in touch.

Researching scam compounds in Phnom Penh becomes increasingly difficult as the construction of new compounds and the conversion of Indian restaurants into compounds in all corners of the city is quite literaly deafening.

Two CMAC officers are killed in Oddar Meanchey province while clearing a mine.

Thailand legalising casinos is just a more transparent move into the scam and human trafficking industry that they have been quietly supporting for several years. But the government will simply not be able to prevent mafia groups gathering mass influence over the govt.

Mark Zuckerberg is ending factchecking, moving Meta’s moderators to Texas, appointed top Republican Joel Kaplan to head of global affairs, & invited pro-Trump UFC CEO Dana White onto his board. Bending the knee? He has full-on, enthusiastically, rolled over for Trump & wants his belly tickled next.

Good piece from Jonathan Head and Thu Bui on why so many Vietnamese are risking their lives to come to the UK. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A former opposition Cambodian MP being gunned down in Bangkok is a terrifying escalation of an international culture of assassination, arrest and suppression. www.france24.com/en/live-news...

70 Pakistani and Indian nationals attempted to flee from Ly Yong Phat's O'Smach scam compound in Cambodia. They are now being held by local police for 'interrogation' after taking control of the victims from the Gendarmerie who were likely about to return them to the compound.

Our latest in The Dial magazine explores the elite behind Cambodia's transformation into a scam and organised crime utopia. From illegal logging and land seiures, this didn't happen by coincidence but by design. www.thedial.world/articles/new...

Excellent work from @swilliamsjourno.bsky.social and Danny Gold exploring the objecitvely mental case of Alice Guo and how it ties into the staggeringly massic scam business. Plus, it's always nice for me and Lindsey Kennedy to get a wee shout out! open.spotify.com/episode/2M6z...

Happy to see @mongabay.bsky.social's work feat'd in the @columjournreview.bsky.social where myself, my colleague Pry Nehru and the venerable @rhettayersbutler.bsky.social detail the challenges environmental reporters face and how Mongabay manages them. @laurenwatsonjourno.bsky.social reports.

"With almost every story that we get out, readers—here or around the world—say, ‘Great job, how are you able to get away with this?" Fascinating discussion with geraldrflynn.bsky.social on the dangers, importance and impact on environmental reporting. www.cjr.org/business_of_...