If you’ve been to Siem Reap’s Pub Street, undoubtedly you’ve been approached by a bedraggled young mother or child holding an empty baby bottle and toting a sleepy-looking infant. “The baby is hungry,” they plead. “I’m not asking for money, just formula for my baby.”
Got scammed? Don’t fall for the powdered milk scam in Cambodia.
Every night, well-intentioned tourists fall for this scam, thinking that the $30 canister of formula they are buying is going to feed that drowsy baby, allowing both she and her caretaker to head home. Unfortunately, that’s not really what’s going on. All of the formula that’s purchased is promptly returned, with the proceeds being split with the store (Huy Meng Minimart under X Bar on Sivatha Blvd at the bottom of Pub Street is a favorite).
Now you may be reading this and wondering what’s the big deal? This desperately poor family is getting some much-needed income, so why does it matter if they trade the formula for cash?
The truth is much darker. Local expats speculate that the baby-beggars are run by a mafia of sorts. If you get a cup of coffee on Pub Street in the early evening before sunset, you’ll see seven or eight young women descend on the street at the exact same time, each of them carrying a bleary-eyed baby slung to her hip, many of them blowing cigarette smoke in their faces. Women don’t always carry the same baby, indicating that the babies are merely rented or borrowed for the night. Many of the babies are carried by older children and the babies are uncharacteristically docile.
Children and women carrying babies all descend on Pub Street at the same time, carrying half-empty bottles.
Local child protection organizations say that they haven’t seen evidence that the babies are drugged, but it seems entirely possible in order to assure their pliability and make them seem more pathetic and sympathetic. Personally, there’s only one baby I’ve seen on Pub Street that seems alert, the rest are scarily mellow, especially when one considers the fact that they are there for up to 12 hours at a time.
Expats who have tried to warn tourists that are falling for the scam have been threatened with violence. When a young girl carrying a baby asked me to buy her milk recently and I declined, she scratched and pinched my arm. It’s not hard to imagine the desperation these young women must feel–after all, they likely need to pay for the baby they are renting and if the mafia theory is correct, their handlers may be watching to make sure they bring in enough money each night.
For tourists, handing over $20 or $30 to buy a can of formula is a quick, feel-good experience. Just a few days ago I saw a tourist taking photos of himself posing with a canister of formula and the bedraggled street kid he was buying it for. He probably went straight back to his hotel to post about the experience on Facebook, and no doubt received an appreciative response from his friends, who were just as clueless about the reality of the situation as he.
This baby formula has probably already been bought and returned several times today.
But there are more reasons than just losing their money that tourists shouldn’t be participating in this scam. For one, think of the babies. These babies are likely being drugged, kept up all night and even being deprived of food to make them look more desperate. Toddlers that are swaddled for hours upon hours long after the age of infanthood do not learn to walk properly. And tourists are the ones supplying the demand for these abused babies. If no one was willing to reward these scammers, they would have no motivation to keep these babies on the street.
“The scam is a albeit slightly more lucrative version of begging,” James Sutherland of Friends International, explains. “Poor mothers and vulnerable infants are always at risk on the streets, and scams like these keep them there, day in, day out.”
Children are also used in this scam, often toting the babies themselves. Because they have more value as beggars or scammers, they are kept on the streets all night, instead of sleeping and going to school in the mornings. When poor families have financial incentive to keep their children out of school–especially when there are addiction or gambling problems in the home–many choose to keep their children on the street.
Just say no to sleepy babies in Siem Reap.
Recently in Thailand a gang of children selling roses on a busy nightlife street were discovered to be trafficked, sold or rented by their families and then never heard from again. It’s hard not to think that if tourists just said “no,” this market in child beggars would not be so prolific.
Buying formula does not help these babies, it does quite the opposite. Buying powdered milk (or, indeed, buying anything from children on the street) only gives their parents reason to keep those children on the street. In this case, where it appears that a much more sinister situation exists than families merely begging for money, you must understand that by participating in any way, you are contributing to the abuse of these children.
“We believe that well-meaning people should not perpetuate that cycle, but should rather direct their attention to getting families like these off the streets and out of poverty and that can be done by supporting organizations working to do that, with education, training and income generation programs,” James Sutherland of Friends International, a local child-protection organization, told us.
What should you do if asked to buy formula for a baby?
Just say NO. Tell your travel companions and guesthouse about the scam. The more people that know about it, the less prevalent it will become. Familiarize yourself with Friends International’s ChildSafe Traveler Tips, who suggest that you not give to child beggars, buy postcards or items from children selling on the street or visit orphanages in Cambodia.
Here’s the bottom line folks. ‘Kind-hearted’ or not, use ur thick heads. If a child is on the street begging/selling/etc ANYTHING what does it mean? It means that the child is not doing what a child SHOULD be doing ie; school, playing – developing and learning normally to become an independent, happy and productive member of society. When u see a baby being lugged around at 11pm what does THAT mean? It means that the baby is not doing what a baby SHOULD be doing, ie sleeping, being in an environment other than Pub Street etc etc…not really hard is it, all you ‘kind-hearted’ folks?
Another question; just how far do you think your ‘generous’ $1 (or $30 can of formula) goes? Answer; until it runs out (or gets sold back to the shop) which in the case of the dollar aint long. So do u think you’re really doing some good here? Even if the kid DOES get that full dollar (which he wont because 99% of them have handlers who really get the loot) he might eat for a day and then, SHOCK HORROR! hes at it again tomorrow, the same dreary, sad cycle.
Last point – all you ‘kind-hearted’ folks…have a think, a REALLY honest think, about ur motivations for your ‘generous’ deeds. Like the avid Facebooker in the article above, can you honestly say ur trying to make a difference with that 1 buck/1can or is it more about you making yourself feel good/look good? Perhaps if you really gave a sh!t about these ‘poor Cambodians’ youd devote a little more to them and actually make a real difference (as per some of the ways mentioned in the article and more).
Sorry if i sound harsh, i have lived here a long time and traveled this and many other developing nations and i just get a little tired of token gestures from ‘kind-hearted’ westerners getting given a free pass for perpetuating these problems because they’re ‘trying to do the right thing’. Again, use ur heads.
Thanks for your heart felt comments .Won’t stop as long as the mafia and police make money. Sad but true.
I am glad this Article has been shared on FB. I will not want to be caught out. Sad. Yet scams are in every shape and form. From fake ID used for friendship requests on Facebook to emails in form of begging to relinquish personal / business account funds. Trust is the key and only trust ones instinct and never fall for bleeding heart trick. Children and babies in this case are vulnerable ones caught up and it is all very twisted and sickening to say the least.
Too late Just got caught by if…. (And am not the only one)
Maybe night time spray on the floor “powder milk scan” in front of the shop…
Maybe get the Guest Houses, Hotels and Hostels to start getting involved and handing out info upon check in. It will take a Khmer leader like the Temple group family empire to get it rolling. Maybe some NGO to go door to door with flyers printed. That being said, probably won’t happen. I do like the painting the sidewalk idea but probably get arrested in the process.
Florian,
Your heart was in the right place..
The scam exists because it works.
Best you can do know is pass on the experience.
It’s highly doubtful the Cambodian authorities..
(I laughed when I just wrote that) would ever do anything.
Its up to us expats to help get the message out to those visiting.
I was approached in Siem Reap with this scam. I didn’t think it was a scam at first, and I felt sorry for the baby. When I was paying, I thought maybe this is a scam and the store are in on it, and she returns the powder. I google my concerns and here it is. Now I feel like shit, encouraging the abuse of the babies.
Don’t feel bad. Many people fall for it every night! If you see someone else debating whether to buy the milk, tell them to go to their hotel and Google it before they decide!
12 years in SE Asia.. I recognize the scam at the start. Don’t worry you didn’t. It’s highly successful.
Go forward with the knowledge. Tell a friend.
pleased to hear others got the scratch-pinch
Because no one seems to have logged in later to say they now dead from the arsenick.
And I got it tonight. Feisty!
Just a thought, but the similarity of agro suggests its a tactic rather than real desp/fear/panic. Probably to deter getting a cop/retaliation.
Also if she was genuinely frantic she would have been off to the next target, not chasing you around just to shout abuse. So i wouldnt feel bad for the women, except poverty of course.
February, 2016, the scam continues. Our story is similar to all of the others. I should’ve known when they suggested a specific market, something was wrong. Once I bought the $8 (that is the cheapest at the store) powdered milk, she took it and was on her way. The little boy who my boyfriend refused to buy the $30 can for, was furious at us. So furious he punched me in the stomach. We are here for a week, and continue to run into him where he spouts out “f*ck your father, F*ck you”.
What we have noticed, that I haven’t seen in the comments of these posts….. We have watched these acts take place (since being scammed ourselves) and we have seen children and women give money to local juice/smoothie carts. Personally (I am no expert) I believe they are working together. If this isn’t the case, regardless, don’t fall for this. And avoid the vicious kid (maybe 12 years old) that is violent when you say “no” to him.
Also….. (This is a lesson for myself) This is not the entire Cambodian people doing this. Yes, it’s bullshit. Yes, it will piss you off. It did me. But I’m learning not to judge a culture for the wrong doings of s few. The rumors may be true….. These women and children could be taking pennies on he dollar and giving the majority of their proceeds to a boss or “pimp”. A local woman whispered to us when we asked about the scam “the babies are on the water, the juice, to look tired”.
It’s a sad sad scam. The more travelers know about it, the less there is a market for these actions.
Unfortunately it happens under the watchful eyes of the tourist police too. I personally never shop at those few markets who are part of the scam. I live here so many know me as I say f..k off which gets a similar response as you might expect. I am sorry for the babies when they get too big to be, well, babies.
Thank you for sharing. I was wondering as I saw this at Angkor Wat. Interesting you mention the blowing of the smoke in the babies faces. I’ve been warned of meth-laced cigarettes here – warned to not take a puff of anyone else’s cigarettes or get one from anyone. Perhaps that is how they are drugged?
Friends International reports that they do not believe the babies are being drugged, and I tend to believe them (for the most part). If they were drugging the babies, they would be giving them sedatives to keep the babies calm and docile, not methamphetamine which would have the opposite effect. I also have never heard of meth-laced cigarettes in Cambodia during my five years here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_zAaq1o0OM
Would be funny if these were the guys you saw. This is Vitaly (a known prankster on Youtube) who videotape the Whole thing.
Wow, we just got scammed by the woman in the first picture above. She had a different baby though.
Thought it was odd that she didn’t have any milk in the bottle after when we looked down from 3rd story Soup Dragon Restauarant on the corner across the road from this Minimart! Noticed too that the child was too big to be carried around and too docile to be sleeping with all the noise going on around them. Will more than likely see her tomorrow and have a piece of mind to see the young cashier girl that serves in the Minimart everyday!
Take the cashiers picture as well as a picture of the outside of the mini mart and post because she will just get a dumb look on her face and not understand a word of English.