Though the government estimates that around one-thousand of its citizens are involved in the scam industry in Cambodia, newly released data suggests the actual number may be significantly higher.

According to justice ministry data submitted Monday to Rep. Park Chan-dae of the Democratic Party, the gap between the number of South Koreans departing for Cambodia and those returning has grown to the thousands in recent years.

After numbering just 113 in 2021, the figure reached approximately 32-hundred in 2022, 26-hundred in 2023 and 32-hundred again in 2024.

These numbers suggest that thousands of South Koreans who travel to Cambodia each year are not returning.

Cambodian immigration data also shows that South Koreans entering Cambodia numbered approximately six-thousand in 2021, 64-thousand in 2022, 170-thousand in 2023 and 192-thousand in 2024, nearly double the figures reported by South Korea in some years.

Authorities believe a significant number of South Koreans may also be entering Cambodia through neighboring countries such as Thailand and Vietnam, with many failing to return.