South Korea repatriates 64 from Cambodia linked to online scams

Sixty four South Korean nationals detained in Cambodia on suspicion of working for online scam operations were flown home on a charter flight over the weekend and taken into custody, South Korean authorities said, in the latest response to a surge in transnational fraud and a high-profile death that prompted Seoul to dispatch a government team to Phnom Penh. The repatriation follows the August discovery of a South Korean university student who, officials say, was lured to Cambodia with a fake job offer, confined, tortured and killed at a scam compound.

The returnees were placed under arrest as they boarded the Korean Air charter and were escorted off the plane by a large police presence on arrival at Incheon International Airport, officials said. Prosecutors have asked courts to issue detention warrants for the majority of the group, and five of the returnees have been released while investigations continue, police said. Most of those returned face criminal probes in South Korea into alleged roles in romance scams, investment fraud and voice phishing. Some of the repatriated told investigators they had been beaten while held in Cambodia and investigators are examining claims...