Amusement park clip falsely shared as abuse of Indonesian overseas worker

Published on April 22, 2025 at 05:20
2 min read
By AFP Indonesia

Thousands of Indonesians have been sucked into transnational scam rings and forced to work in inhumane conditions in other Southeast Asian countries, authorities have said. But footage that social media posts claim depicts an Indonesian worker being tortured to death in Cambodia is in fact a stunt show in an amusement park.

"A moment when an Indonesian was being tortured to death," reads an Indonesian-language X post shared March 29. The victim was working in Cambodia, it adds.

The post includes a video that appears to show a person being pushed to a container filled with toxic substances.

Screenshot of the false post, captured on April 15, 2025

Thousands of Indonesians have been lured to work abroad in recent years in other Southeast Asian countries in search of better-paying jobs only to end up in the hands of transnational fraudsters (archived link).

United Nations officials have said those trapped by scam syndicates are experiencing a "living hell".

The Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh in Cambodia has reported a rise in the number of Indonesian workers entangled in online scam operations, according to Tempo newspaper in March (archived link).

Authorities have also launched an investigation into the death of two undocumented Indonesian workers there, the Jakarta Globe separately reported (archived link).

Other posts on X have also misrepresented video that was in fact filmed in an amusement park in Thailand.

A combination of reverse image and keyword searches found similar footage posted on the YouTube channel of Dream World Bangkok near the Thai capital on January 23, 2020 (archived link)

Screenshot comparison of the false post (L) and the video from Dream World Bangkok with similarities highlighted by AFP

According to Dream World's official website, the Hollywood-style show is centred around showcasing various special effects and runs every Saturday, Sunday and public holiday in the afternoon (archived link).

A separate partner website powered by the travel company Thrillophilia says the 25-minute performance chronicles a police tactical unit's takedown of a terrorist group (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked posts that have falsely presented the video as a genuine incident in Gaza.

Street imagery of the studio on Google Maps confirms its location in Thailand (archived link).

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