Caught in Cambodia’s Scam Machine: Part 2

Summary

Up First – “Caught in Cambodia’s Scam Machine: Part 2” (June 21, 2026)

Episode Overview

This episode of NPR’s "Up First: The Sunday Story" continues the powerful investigation into Cambodia’s sprawling scam industry and the humanitarian crisis facing migrant workers trapped by it. Host Ayesha Rascoe, along with reporter Shabani Mattani, follows the journey of Schwaib, a Ugandan scam compound survivor, as he navigates overwhelming bureaucratic barriers, financial ruin, and near-total abandonment by aid groups and governments. The episode also profiles freelance journalist Dara, who risks his safety to help victims like Schwaib and calls out the systemic failures that perpetuate their suffering.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Schwaib’s Escape and the Visa Trap

• Release From the Scam Compound:
  After a year of forced scam labor, Schwaib leaves the compound with hope of returning to Uganda, planning to fly back once his contract ends.

  "Right now we just want to go back home, home to Uganda." — Schwaib, 00:36

• Visa Overstay Penalties:
  Schwaib, like many, is immediately flagged at the airport for an 11-month visa overstay, facing a prohibitive $3,500 fine ($10 per day), effectively trapping him in Cambodia when he can’t pay.

  "Lady was like, you either pay or you go back." — Schwaib, 05:24

• Lack of Support and Shelter:
  Disconnected from aid, with embassies and agencies offering little help, Schwaib is forced to seek shelter in temples—long-time refuges for the homeless in Phnom Penh.

  “We slept there for like three days. We had nowhere to go.” — Schwaib, 08:56

2. Growing Humanitarian Crisis & Systemic Policy Failures

• Government and NGO Inaction:
  Amnesty International and other human rights groups condemn the lack of systematic support for migrants, criticizing the Cambodian government’s prioritization of compound shutdowns over victim protection.

  “Migrants are falling through the cracks.” — Shabani Mattani, 00:53

• Fear Among Locals:
  New policies threaten landlords with prosecution for sheltering undocumented foreigners, amplifying migrants’ homelessness and isolation.

  “I tried the UN's migration agency, the IOM, but they couldn't help much either.” — Shabani Mattani, 09:15

• Desperation and Diminishing Aid:
  The closure of U.S.-funded shelters by the Trump administration (2025) and only piecemeal support from the IOM leave thousands without safety nets.

  “The shelter has had to turn away hundreds of people per week since January of this year.” — Shabani Mattani, 18:01

• Detention and Blurred Victim-Perpetrator Lines:
  Detained scam workers are often held with actual criminals, with no access to basics, and widespread confusion in law enforcement.

  “Authorities haven't differentiated between criminals and victims. So now bosses and workers are being held in the same space.” — Shabani Mattani, 19:39

3. The Work and Sacrifice of Dara, the Freelance Journalist

• Dara’s Commitment to Accountability:
  Journalist Dara, formerly of the Voice of Democracy, is renowned for his fearless reporting—pushing beyond surface narratives to trace responsibility up to Cambodia's political elite. Despite repeated crackdowns on the press, he persists under personal threat.

  “Do you know who you worked for, who were the bosses, who did they report to and who owned the property?” — Shabani Mattani, 12:36

• Personal Cost and Perseverance:
  Dara recounts his arrest and the intimidation he faced, eating with his hands in prison due to lack of utensils, his case still unresolved, yet feels compelled to continue.

  “I have to use my hand to eat rice and pick up soup.” — Dara, 15:42
  "They broken my spirit ... I just didn't want to be a journalist anymore." — Shabani Mattani reflecting on Dara’s experience, 16:00

• Stepping in as a Lifeline:
  Dara becomes a practical and emotional support for Schwaib and others: providing meals, rides, safe places, and raising funds himself when institutions fail.

  “He just offers the best he can. Dara has done a big thing for us.” — Schwaib, 17:54
  “When I see, when I hear the people shouting for help, at least I can help.” — Dara, 21:29

4. Personal Resilience Amidst Systemic Failures

• Psychological Toll & Solidarity:
  Schwaib and Dara’s bond centers the episode—two survivors providing mutual support in a bleak landscape, sustained by small acts of kindness and shared humor.

  "I see the same thing that made you to go to jail is the same thing that you're still doing." — Schwaib, 23:11

• Finding an Exit at Last:
  After weeks of waiting and the sale of his last possessions (a motorbike and his beloved cow), Schwaib’s overstay fine is finally waived, but only after immense delay and personal cost—leaving him to beg family for a flight home.

  "All he had left was his motorbike ... and his cow, a big brown and white cow ... With the money from the sales, he finally bought his ticket in mid March, six weeks after leaving the Scam Centre, his fourth ticket." — Shabani Mattani, 26:22-26:36

• Return as ‘Criminal’ Not ‘Victim’:
  At the airport, Schwaib is processed and given a deportation stamp, banned from Cambodia for three years—official systems label him a criminal.

  “But among the stamp officials put in his passport was a deportation stamp. He’d been banned for the country for three years. The system had decided Schwaib ... was a criminal, not a victim.” — Shabani Mattani, 31:56

• Homecoming and the Stigma of Failure:
  Schwaib returns to Uganda broke and ashamed, not even telling family of his arrival, feeling invisible at the end of a journey where every system failed him.

  “I arrived at the airport, no one knew that I'm coming.” — Schwaib, 32:59
  “Sometimes you feel like to give up ... I just have to keep on going because I have to survive.” — Schwaib, 33:09

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Futility and Desperation:
  "Maybe he could just get arrested so that we can get free space to sleep and free food, and ultimately maybe that would lead to his deportation." — Shabani Mattani, 10:17

• On Journalistic Duty:
  "People question me why I'm coming back because the people who supposed to do their work, they fail to do their work. I would not come to clean their ass it they do their work properly." — Dara, 20:59

• On Systemic Failure:
  “If you only looked at what the Cambodian government and police are posting, you’d think the crackdown is going really well.” — Shabani Mattani, 20:19

• On Resilience in the Face of Injustice:
  "My dreams never changed. Just they were delayed. I'm not chasing for the big thing. I'm just chasing for maybe survival." — Schwaib, 27:34

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Schwaib’s release and first airport attempt: 00:36–05:42
• Lack of shelter and overstay fines explained: 05:42–10:17
• Meeting Dara, the journalist: 10:49–12:36
• Dara’s arrest and story: 12:36–16:56
• Dara as activist/volunteer and continued support: 16:56–23:19
• Aid crisis and state of shelters: 18:01–22:33
• Schwaib’s final days in Cambodia; trip to airport: 24:45–31:34
• Homecoming and aftermath: 31:34–33:26

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Tone and Style

The episode blends Shabani Mattani’s clear-eyed reporting with the voices of people at the heart of the crisis—personal, honest, at times raw but buoyed by the humanity and humor of those struggling to survive. Dara’s blunt outspokenness, Schwaib’s resigned but persistent hope, and the empathetic framing of the narrative all contribute to a moving, immersive exploration of the dark realities behind Southeast Asia’s cyber scam industry and the inadequacy of international response.

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Takeaway

This episode exposes how, even once freed from the obvious bonds of trafficking, survivors like Schwaib are ensnared anew by rigid systems, political expediencies, and absent aid. The story is not just about scams—it’s a sharp portrait of bureaucratic cruelty, personal resilience, and the redemptive power of grassroots allyship.

“Sometimes you feel like to give up ... I just have to keep on going because I have to survive. I have to have to become something good.”
— Schwaib (33:09)

Transcript

[Ayesha Rascoe]

Aisha.

[Narrator/Host (likely Ayesha Rascoe or NPR Host)]

I'm Aisha Rascoe and you're listening to the Sunday Story from Up First. This is the second of our two part series with investigative reporter Shabani Mattani, a story about the people who were lured into working in the global cyber scam industry. Now, if you haven't heard part one, you can go back and listen to that now in the feed. You'll definitely want the start of this story. At the end of part one, Schweib walked out through the gates of a scam compound after working for almost a year as a scammer.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

Right now we just want to go

[Narrator/Host (likely Ayesha Rascoe or NPR Host)]

back home, home to Uganda. Instead, he would wind up on the streets of Phnom Penh like tens of thousands of others who've been released in government raids on scam compounds across the country. Schwaib needed emergency shelter, food and legal support. But instead of aid, there would be obstacles almost impossible to overcome. Amnesty International is calling the current situation in Cambodia a humanitarian crisis and says migrants are falling through the cracks. Shibani Mattani continues Schweibe's story.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

So after Schweib walked out of the scam compound, he felt optimistic. His plan was pretty simple. He would go to the airport and get on a plane just like when he arrived, minus the Lexus. Part of the reason Schweibe was confident was because he had almost completed his year long contract. Before he left the compound, he talked to his boss.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

I told the boss, my, my contract is over, but I need to go back home.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

Schwaib was worried about one thing in particular. He knew he'd come in on a tourist visa and had overstayed it by 11 months. Shuaib's boss wouldn't buy his return ticket back to Uganda, but he told him he'd deal with the complications from the overstayed visa. He'd clear the fines and he'd handle the paperwork. So with that understanding, Schwai bought a plane ticket.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

A quick one.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

It cost him $1,300.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

1,300.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

Schwaib didn't have a lot of money to spend. He told me he had about $3,600 or so in his bank account when he left the compound. This was the entirety of his savings, both from his previous job in Kampala and the little he was paid in Cambodia. But Shweib had never bought a plane ticket before and he booked it so quickly that he misread the departure time and he missed his flight. So at the airport, he booked another flight. He texted his boss to confirm Everything was still good to go, but no reply. So Schweib decided to give it a few days. He cancelled the ticket and he went back to the city center to wait for the go ahead. Schweib had been in Cambodia for almost a year, but he'd only seen the inside of industrial buildings and garish casinos converted into scam compounds. He'd been looking at screens 12 hours a day. He'd seen nothing of the country at all. Suddenly he was in a big city and had time to kill. So he started exploring. He walked the streets of Phnom Penh and let himself spend some of his

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

savings to go everywhere. To go in some malls, in some parks, to visit some places, religious temples. I used to go there because I used to stay near the river.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

He moved from hotel to hotel, sharing rooms with a few of the other Ugandans who'd gotten out with him. He told me about one of the places he liked the most.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

It's called the Royal Palace.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

The Royal palace, constructed for the King of Cambodia in 1860. It's a sprawling, opulent compound with a silver pagoda.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

There is bug, there are elephants. There are a lot of incredible things there. Even that side of the river, there's a place called Night Market. In the morning, it is a normal place, but at night it is a party place. There are festivals all night all along.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

But even as he wandered around as though he were a tourist, he couldn't stop thinking about getting home. A few days later, Schwaib's former boss got back to him.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

You can go to the airport.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

He told him to go ahead and purchase a ticket for February 10, exactly a year to the day that Schweibe had arrived in Cambodia. So Schweib booked a ticket for February 10, his third plane ticket.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

It was my last. My last money.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

So what happened when you got to

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

the airport after taking our bags? Then we went to the immigration, because after the check in, you have to go to the immigration. After arriving there, they asked, where are your passports?

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

They scanned his passport, and it was immediately flagged for overstay. Schweibe called his boss. The call wouldn't go through. He'd been blocked. Immigration officials told Schweibe he couldn't leave without paying his overstay fine. It was $10 a day from the moment his visa expired 11 months ago, around $3,500 in total.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

Lady was like, you either pay or you go back. Then we stood there, then he gave us our passports. Then he told us that you go back, you will Find your bags outside.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

I've heard this story over and over again. Migrants tell me these huge overstay fines are the biggest obstacle preventing them from leaving Cambodia. Aid workers and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have criticized the Cambodian government for conducting business as usual. They've called on the Cambodian government to waive the fines. They say people who've been abused, exploited, even trafficked, are now being exploited again. The Cambodian government is working with other governments to clear workers of the overstay fines. But on a case by case basis, it is excruciatingly slow. When I asked the Cambodian government's information minister, Net Picture to explain why, he told me the priority is shutting down these compounds. That has to be done first. He acknowledged, though, that many of these migrants are victims of trafficking and can't afford to go home. And he called on their embassies to assist. So at the airport, Schwaib's fine was due on the spot. He couldn't leave without paying. Schweib said there was no empathy from the immigration official. Was she, like, apologetic? Like, did she feel bad or.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

No, she was so rude. Yeah, she was so rude.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

Do you feel like they just don't understand, like, what you guys have been through? They just see you as like people who've done bad things or something. They don't understand the situation.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

Those from the immigration, they're like the normal local people here. For them, what they know is that we came here willingly and we've been in overseas intentionally.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

Shuai was exhausted. He begged the immigration official to just deport him, she wouldn't help, and directed him to another official.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

Then the guy told us, no, there's nothing I can do for you, but you can go to a temple. When you go to the temple, you can sleep there.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

Shuaib was now broke. He'd been calling his brother, who lived in Saudi Arabia, for some help with money. And he joined the waitlist for the only shelter for migrants like him. But it was full and the waitlist was long. So Shuaib went to the temple.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

It's called Prasati. That's the name they use for the temple. Then we try to search on the map. That's when we saw a lot of prasad. Then we saw one near the immigration offices. Then we said, okay, let's just go here.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

In sometimes chaotic Phnom Penh, where the rise of the middle class has left so many urban poor behind, temples have long been a refuge. Each neighbourhood has one. These spartan and often small complexes, they're nothing like the grandeur of the great temples in Bangkok, with oversized gold Buddhas and manicured grounds. But their doors are always open to the homeless, to the elderly and rural school children studying in the city. With no etiquette, grounds are managed by young monks in orange robes and shaved heads. There's no running water. It's not much more than a safe place to rest for the night. Amid crumbling statues and the occasional sounds

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

of chanting, you find a lot of people who just came there to worship. It is peaceful. We slept there for like three days. We had nowhere to go.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

But this was a real low point for Schweib. He felt invisible. There was no one and nowhere to turn to for help. He wanted to at least find a proper room. There were guesthouses in the city. They were the cheapest option, often just rooms over modest family homes or shops. But again and again, he was turned away. That's because the Cambodian government had created yet another obstacle. It had announced that landlords who housed foreigners without the right visas would be themselves liable for fines or criminal charges. Locals were afraid, and Schwaib was clearly a foreigner. Schwaib reached out to Ugandan officials. They told him they were working on the overstay fines, but there wasn't much else they could do. He tried the UN's migration agency, the IOM, but they couldn't help much either. So Schwaib started to think outside of the official channels. Maybe he could just get arrested so

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

that we can get free space to

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

sleep and free food, and ultimately maybe that would lead to his deportation. He went to the Cambodian immigration department several days in a row, trying to convince them to deport him. But officials told him again, until he paid the fines, they couldn't let him go. Every day he stayed in Cambodia, he was spending money. He started skipping meals. His stomach ulcers were bothering him again. Then one day, Shuaib met Magdara.

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

My name is Meghdara. I'm a freelance journalist.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

Daraa. I've mentioned him before. He's my journalist friend who drives a tuk tuk and has been helping me connect with stranded migrants in Phnom Penh. That day, Dara was also at the immigration office looking for groups of migrants to talk to.

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

I'm working on this story. And what is your situation?

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

He went up to Shuaib's group and he bought them lunch.

[Narrator/Host (likely Ayesha Rascoe or NPR Host)]

You're listening to the Sunday story. We'll be right back.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

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[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

state law Few people know Cambodia and its scam industry like McDara. Back when I first started reading about it all in 2021, Dara's byline was everywhere and he really became the guy that foreign media would work with. When reporting on the scam industry. Dara has a really unique approach. He sees things structurally. For him, it was never enough to interview someone who escaped a scam compound and just ask about their experience. He wouldn't stop there. He always wanted to take a step further and ask, do you know who you worked for, who were the bosses, who did they report to and who owned the property? But these are dangerous questions in Cambodia because they trace back to some of the most powerful people in the country. Cambodia is a single party state. Political power is sustained by a class of tycoons who have a close relationship with the ruling Hun family. Independent reporting from outlets like the New York Times show that these tycoons have directly profited from the scam industry. Even the prime minister's cousin had a stake in a scam linked entity. In 2023, the Cambodian government ramped up its repression against non governmental organizations and others who were vocal about the scam industry, including what was left of the country's independent media. The government forced Dara's news outlet, the Voice of Democracy, to shut down. Journalists started dropping out of covering the scam industry, but Dara kept reporting. I think for him it was like a mission or a calling. Dara and I met in 2024 when I reported in Cambodia. But about two weeks after that trip, I was on vacation in Thailand when my phone started blowing up with just a ton of messages from people in Cambodia saying Dar had been arrested. Ostensibly, Dar was arrested for a social media post that was critical of the Cambodian government. The government eventually charged him with inciting social disorder. And they released a statement saying this case was not related to Daraa's journalism. But many of us who knew the forces at play here believed the government was punishing Daraa for his reporting. He would end up being held in jail for a month. When I was back in Phnom Penh this March, it was the first time, actually that I'd spoken to him at length about what had happened to him.

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

They sent a lot of military police. Like I seen three or four car.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

Dara had been briefly detained in the past, but he had no idea this time the charges were so serious they

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

couldn't believe that they sent me to the prison.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

He was transported by military police to prison. He remembered that first day in his cell. They gave him some kind of soup and rice, but no utensils.

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

I don't have a spoon to eat the food.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

And so he had to eat it with the palm of his hand.

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

I have to use my hand to eat rice and pick up soup. You know, is this real? You know, like, I start to feel. And it is really, really horrible situation inside there. Yes.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

He still looked very shaken, recounting that to me. Technically, the case against Dara hasn't been fully dropped. It's still hanging there sort of like an anvil over his head. And I think he's really aware of it. When he was let out of jail, he told people that they'd broken his spirit and he just didn't want to be a journalist anymore. So for a while, Daraa laid low and his bylines basically disappeared until Cambodia, bowing to international pressure, began its crackdown on the scam industry. And, you know, I think this has created an opening for him to continue his reporting because at least for the moment, Cambodia is admitting that they have a big scam problem. And Dara says, with such immense need in front of him, he just can't look away.

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

It is really speechless to see this situation.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

I would say that I think Dara, in this particular moment in Cambodia, he's definitely, to our Western eyes, crossed a bit into a volunteer or an activist rather than just a journalist. After they met, Dara became a lifeline for Schweib. It started with the little things. He drove him around with his tuk Tuk for free in the city, helped him print out his documents. And when Tribe ran out of cash, Tarao was there.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

Brother, I don't have anything to eat. Say that where do you stay? I sent him the location, said, okay, tomorrow I'm going to come there to bring free food. Later in the morning he calls you, you come, you come downstairs. I'm here.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

Tarao was on call.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

He just offers the best he can. Dara has done a big thing for us.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

Schweib and thousands of others like him are facing this immense need for support at possibly one of the worst times for global aid. In Cambodia, there's pretty much only one shelter that's open to victims of human trafficking. That shelter was funded by the US Agency for International Development, usaid, until the Trump administration shut down the agency in July of 2025. The shelter then had to lay off staff and scale back operations. It's now partially funded by the IOM, the UN agency for migrants. It can only accommodate 120 people. This is the shelter that Schwaib was on the waitlist for. The shelter has had to turn away hundreds of people per week since January of this year. Outside of this shelter, some countries, like Indonesia, have taken steps to deal with their own citizens. The Indonesian government rented a warehouse in Phnom Penh and told people they could go there and get food and some medical support. But when I visited this warehouse in March, it was overcrowded and dirty. The place reeked of cigarettes. So many Indonesians have just preferred to stay outside. On the street close to the embassy, I found another group of people sleeping here and making their bed for the the night on makeshift blankets and pillows. Yeah, it's a really sort of overwhelming site actually. Are you waiting for the money to go home?

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

No money.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

The Cambodian authorities have also detained many scam workers for visa violations. Aid workers in contact with migrants inside say these detention facilities are short on basic supplies like food and water. And authorities haven't differentiated between criminals and victims. So now bosses and workers are being held in the same space. A video circulating on social media earlier this year showed them brawling over food. If you only looked at what the Cambodian government and police are posting, you'd think the crackdown is going really well.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

Go inside, Go inside.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

There are dramatic videos of the raids, of deportations, of groups of people. Perp walked through the airport. But there's been no international large scale response to the dire situation of these migrants. Not from embassies, not from aid groups. UN agencies have a mandate to Help. But over the last six months they haven't stepped up in any sort of systematic way. Their piecemeal support hasn't met the overwhelming need. And reports have come out showing that people on the streets are now being re recruited into the scam industry. All of this has made Daraa extremely angry.

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

People question me why I'm coming back because the people who supposed to do their work, they fail to do their work. I would not come to clean their ass it they do their work properly. You know, like we have seen ngo, we have seen other journalists, we have seen embassy, we have seen many people they just like they don't care.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

And so I think with every call he gets from someone, with every message he gets for help, he takes it so personally and he feels it so

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

deeply it is hard to walk away. People asking for you to help and then like shouting. You hear it and then you say no, I'm not hearing it. And then you keep walking to me. I'm not that kind of person. When I see, when I hear the people shouting for help, at least I can help, you know.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

What Dara has really been doing is holding this kind of one man fundraiser. He's been hitting up contacts from his years of reporting and his job as a researcher and in this very informal way has been asking them for money and then buying basic things like bread, milk, vegetables for the people who are still stranded in Cambodia.

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

I cannot help them to reach their goal but to make sure that they are not hungry. They could have tonight, could be they can sleep in the guest house so they feel better. So that is what I have been trying to do.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

Dara and Schweib's bond with each other really struck me when I spent time with them. Anytime we were driving around on the Tuktuk, even talking about some pretty dark and heavy things, there was always a lot of laughter, a lot of jokes. You know, Dara is very famous. After all he'd been through, it seemed like Schwaib was amazed that someone like Dara even existed. Someone who cared for strangers instead of taking from them, even at grave personal risk. Dara, do the police still give you problems?

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

I still have to show up at the police show.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

At the police?

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

Yeah, I have to go to see the police every month.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

I see the same thing that made you to go to jail is the same thing that you're still doing.

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

Dara is brave, but it's also a little crazy. It's both at the same time.

[Narrator/Host (likely Ayesha Rascoe or NPR Host)]

You're listening to the Sunday Story Stay with us.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

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[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

after a long hunt, Schwaib finally found a guest house, and for weeks he spent much of his time there languishing indoors. It was in this really industrial part of Phnom Penh and so it was always noisy outside. His room was up a narrow metal staircase. He had a reasonable landlord who lived with a family downstairs. It wasn't much. There was just one queen here, bed and a small toilet, but that was AC and some sliver of floor space for him to set up a portable stove and cook some of his own meals. The room was $10 a day, and he split the cost with his roommate, a Ugandan man called Oscar, who was also in one of the same scam compounds as him. Schweib spent a lot of time on his phone scrolling, playing Call of duty, watching YouTube as they waited. The Ugandan ambassador was making progress on negotiations. In the first week of March, Schwaib heard he was on a list of Ugandans whose fines had been waived. He could now go home if he could come up with the cash for a flight. Schweib watched ticket prices rise in the wake of the US attacks on Iran. The cheapest flights went through the Middle East, a route that was no longer available. So he called home. After this year of being abroad, he had nothing to offer his family. Instead, he needed their help. He needed them to sell his things.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

I needed quick money. It was never gonna be enough.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

All he had left was his motorbike back in Kampala and his cow, a big brown and white cow that he's had since 2021.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

A good grown cow and a healthy one, and their price never go down.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

With the money from the sales, he finally bought his Ticket in mid March, six weeks after leaving the Scam Centre, his fourth ticket. A week before he was due to fly, Schweib heard that the shelter he was in line for had space for him. He gathered his stuff and moved again. He hoped it would be for the last time. Dara and I met Schweib on the morning of March 24th. He was in the same clothes he was wearing when I first met him at Lucky Burgers. The acid wash jeans and faded T shirt and the same hat. But this time when he saw us, he was beaming. We spent a few hours that day together. He tried to put a positive spin on things. How did you feel last night, knowing today is like your last day in Cambodia?

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

Yes. I was happy that I'm going though right now I'm still worried how the day is gonna end, you know.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

He spoke a lot about his dreams.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

My dreams. My dreams never changed. Just they were delayed. I'm not chasing for the big thing. I'm just chasing for maybe survival.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

I left him for a few hours and returned to this chaotic scene of Schwaib, shirtless and sweaty, stuffing his belongings into a hard case suitcase. It was only three in the afternoon and his flight wasn't until after 10 at night. But he was running late because this wasn't going to be a normal airport experience. Do you want me to call a car?

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

All this stuff is stuff you brought from home, or is it.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

No, I just came with only one bus.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

Schwaib continued stuffing things into his suitcase. Small gifts for his sisters, some clothes, his Quran. He needed Dara to use brute force to hold the suitcase together. Before he could sip it, Dara helped him maneuver the suitcase down the narrow set of metal stairs. As we drove to the airport, he was visibly nervous. He tried to keep things light, joking with Dara that if this failed again, he would just give up. He'd find a Cambodian woman to marry and find a way to. Day we got to the airport around 4 in the afternoon. It's a beautiful, modern new structure which only opened last September. It has these dramatic golden arches and a giant Buddha right in the middle. Schwaib strapped a neck pillow around his neck, rolled his bags into the entrance. When he hesitated for a bit, he stopped and took a selfie, smiling. He posed for about five minutes, taking various selfies. Once in a lifetime. He'd also dressed up. He'd put on this nice pleather jacket and had sprayed some cologne. When I asked him why, he told me to look around so many of the Other Ugandans were dressed really well, some even with no shoes and clothes. They wanted to project success. They wanted to go home and tell people that they'd actually done well, even if that was far from the truth. In that moment, they actually looked like tourists. For six hours, Schweib and the rest of the group just stood waiting as immigration officials processed the documentation in a separate area of the airport. When I looked around, I saw other groups too. A big group from Nepal, another from China. Shuai would get tired and sit on the baggage trolley listening to music through his oversized headphones. They would knock off Apple AirPod Maxs. As they waited and the sun began to set, groups of Cambodian villagers started streaming into the airport's departure hall. Some were definitely there to say bye to travelers, but so many others were just there to hang out. Kids were really enjoying running around the smooth floors, screaming like this was an indoor playground. To them, this new airport was a symbol of modern Cambodia. New, clean, air conditioned. But Shuaib didn't want to spend a minute longer there. When officials told him it was time to check in, he jumped up from the baggage trolley. It was time. The Bangkok Airways attendant took his passport, printed off a boarding pass and loaded his bags. Schwaib was still cautious. We walked together to the immigration checkpoint where he was turned away the last time.

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

Take care, brother.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

The officer scanned his passport. The gates opened and he was through. He just turned around and waved goodbye at us. And he appears to be clearing security and going through immigration. So I think he's home free. Finally.

[Dara (Freelance Journalist)]

Finally.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

I feel like he's quite emotional. It wasn't quite the end when I was in my taxi on the way back to my hotel, I. Schweib sent me a video. He was in the waiting area. Everything had been stamped and so he was good to go. But among the stamp officials put in his passport was a deportation stamp. He'd been banned for the country for three years. The system had decided Schwaib, despite all he'd been through, was a criminal, not a victim. When Schwaib landed in Kampala, he called me. Our phone connection was terrible and kept cutting off. You can still hear, hear me?

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

Yes, I do hear you.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

Tell me, how have things been like, since you. You got home?

[Ayesha Rascoe]

Yeah.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

Do they call it broke or bankrupt? Yes, I'm like bankrupt.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

They call it both broke and bankrupt.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

Yeah, maybe. I don't know how you, how you call it.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

Schweib had nothing left, nothing to show for his year in Cambodia.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

That's why sometimes I say that like on zero.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

He was ashamed enough so that he didn't tell his family he was coming back home.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

I arrived at the airport, no one knew that I'm coming.

[Shabani Mattani (Investigative Reporter)]

When he stepped off the plane in Uganda, there was no one to welcome him home.

[Schwaib (Scam Industry Worker)]

Sometimes you feel like, you feel like to give up since every time you try there's nothing good that comes out. I just have to keep on going because I have to survive. I have to have to become something good.

[Narrator/Host (likely Ayesha Rascoe or NPR Host)]

That was investigative journalist Shaban reporting from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This episode of the Sunday Story was produced by Justine Yan. It was written by Shibani Mattani and Justine Yan. It was edited by Jenny Schmidt and mastered by Jimmy Keeley. Special thanks to Mark Taylor and Ling Li. The Sunday Story team includes Big Ben Rapoport, Andrew Mambo and our senior supervising producer, Leanna Simstrom. Irene Noguchi is our executive producer. I'm Ayesha Rascoe. Up first we'll be back tomorrow with all the news you need to start your week. Until then, have a great rest of your weekend.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

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[Narrator/Host (likely Ayesha Rascoe or NPR Host)]

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