The parents of five young workers who claim they were among 50 ripped off by a recruitment agency offering them work in Thailand have filed complaints with the rights group Adhoc.

Adhoc provincial co-ordinator Sam Chankea said the five claimed the recruitment agency International Investment Services (IIS), based in Phnom Penh, had offered their adult children from Kampong Chhnang province work in Thailand — after demanding fees of up to $200 — but the jobs never materialised.

“IIS promised to send them to a sausage factory in Thailand, but it hasn’t happened,” Chankea said.

Kang Chantea, 42, one of the five complainants from Rolea Ba’ier district, said her oldest daughter, Chan Thoeurng, had registered with IIS and paid $150 last June, receiving the promise of work within three months.

“We asked the broker about this and they demanded another $50, promising that my daughter could be sent to work within three weeks.

“After three weeks, we heard nothing,” she said.

Chantea’s daughter had quit her job at a garment factory in Phnom Penh to prepare for a $300-a-month job in Thailand.

When contacted yesterday, a staff member at IIS’s Phnom Penh office said she was not aware of the issue and her boss was in Thailand.

Two addresses for IIS are listed on separate websites. One appeared yesterday to be simply someone’s house, and a police official said the other address was where IIS operated from.

Taing Bun Torth, the chief   of Chrey Bakk commune, where many of the young workers live, said none of the victims had filed a complaint with him.

“IIS has sent me documents to sign in the past,” he said.

“I was taking note of the number of Cambodians travelling to Thailand from here, but I haven’t seen any documents since 2010.”

More than 100 workers from the commune had gone to work in Thailand through IIS, Bun Torth said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Phak Seangly at [email protected]

With assistance from Shane Worrell