Two Cambodians have been flown home from Japan after being cheated by labor brokers who promised them high-paying jobs but exploited them instead, the Cambodian Embassy in Tokyo said in a statement.
The embassy did not identify the workers or describe their plight in Japan but warned that similar labor rackets had seen Cambodian workers paid paltry wages for grueling labor.
In some cases, workers were pressured into carrying out illegal activities, the embassy said in the statement, which was dated Tuesday and posted to the Labor Ministry’s website on Wednesday.
“Additionally, some of these brokers have used the name of the Cambodian Embassy in Japan to represent themselves as people who have a close relationship with the embassy so that workers will trust them,” it said.
The embassy also appealed to Cambodians in Japan for information about suspicious cases and advised them to carefully consider offers of employment before accepting.
“Please contact the Cambodian Embassy directly if workers have problems at their workplaces, such as labor exploitation or [unpaid] overtime,” it said.
