“The Bokor Mountain area in Kampot Province, Bavet City and Poipet City are designated as travel ban zones,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“South Korean nationals visiting or staying in those areas may be subject to penalties. Citizens planning to travel to such areas are therefore strongly advised to cancel their trips.”

The warning followed an official estimate that about 1,000 South Koreans were among roughly 200,000 people coerced into working in scam compounds across Cambodia.

Regional ripple effect

The backlash has rippled beyond Cambodia, with travellers now avoiding other parts of Southeast Asia seen as potential spillover zones for such criminal activity.

A 46-year-old office worker named Park Young-su told the Korea JoongAng Daily he had cancelled a family holiday to Da Nang, Vietnam, amid reports that “criminal organisations are moving from Cambodia to Vietnam”.

He added: “I was planning to go with my elementary and middle school-aged kids, but safety is a big concern now. We’re thinking about going to Jeju Island or Japan instead.”

Police told The Korea Herald on Wednesday that they were investigating the death of a South Korean woman found last week in Vietnam near the Cambodian border.

Her case has been linked to Cambodian scam networks after another South Korean – who escaped after being forced to work as a courier for illegal “borrowed-name” accounts – claimed she had been “confined at a local hotel for an extended period of time”.

Similar anxieties have surfaced over Laos. One online post read: “I’m supposed to go to Laos in January, but now I’m really anxious since so many people are cancelling.”

In May, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre reported that victims trafficked into Laos had been forced to work up to 17 hours a day in scam compounds.

Local governments and civic groups are also scaling back or cancelling plans for Cambodian trips, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily report.

The Gyeonggi provincial government is recalling its Youth Climate Envoy team of 34 volunteers earlier than their originally scheduled return date of October 28.

The Suwon and Incheon city governments, as well as the Gyeonggi Social Workers’ Association, have all suspended their overseas volunteer programmes to Cambodia.

The United Nations and other agencies estimate that cyber scams – many originating in Southeast Asia – generate billions of dollars annually for transnational criminal networks.

Rights groups have described the operations as a form of modern slavery, with victims often lured by fake job offers and later forced into online fraud.

Travel agencies in Seoul are already feeling the impact. One small agency specialising in Cambodia tours told the Korea JoongAng Daily that business had all but collapsed for the time being.

“The December-to-February period is peak season, so we should be receiving reservations,” an employee said. “But since the news came out last week, not a single new booking has come in. Even people who already booked are calling to ask if it’s still safe to go, and we’re busy trying to reassure them that tourist areas remain safe.”