Cambodia is notorious as the scam capital of Southeast Asia, but it is reportedly making strides against online scams and associated crimes, including money laundering and human rights abuses.
On Wednesday, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) commended Cambodia’s government and law enforcement for ramping up the fight against cyberfraud, which reaps an estimated US$40 billion in illicit revenue per year.
Rebecca Miller, UNODC regional coordinator for human trafficking and migrant smuggling, met in Phnom Penh with Chhay Sinarith, senior minister in charge of special missions and head of Cambodia’s Commission for Combating Technology Crimes (CCTC). According to the CCTC, Miller offered UNODC’s ongoing support for the royal government as it combats tech-based crimes.
In the past year, Cambodia claims to have made thousands of arrests in its crackdown on such crimes, including so-called “pig butchering scams”. These online romance and crypto schemes prey on unsuspecting victims, gain their trust, then persuade them to part with their money, often by investing in phony get-rich-quick schemes.
Criminals protected by the government
While Miller lauded Cambodia’s efforts to stamp out cybercrime, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, an investigative journalism group, reported on US State Department findings that “corruption and official complicity” keep the illicit industry going. Cambodia has “become a safe haven in recent years”, Jeremy Douglas, UNODC deputy director of operations, told OCCRP. “And the state hasn’t stepped in, or won’t.”
“Corruption goes hand-in-hand with authoritarian regimes,” said Lee Morgenbesser, associate professor of comparative politics from Australia’s Griffith University. “The logic is simple: the ruler provides an umbrella of protection for illegal activity, in return for loyalty from various elites. It’s a cesspool.”
Such enterprises typically lure job-seekers with promises of employment, then force them to work in scam farms, sometimes under threat of abuse. The UN estimates that 100,000 foreign nationals have been ensnared in the Southeast Asian industry.
A human rights issue
Scam compounds, like those banned in 2024 in the Philippines, frequently masquerade as online gaming operations. This month, suspected industry kingpin Chen Zhi was arrested and charged with running multinational cyberscams in Cambodia. Zhi’s Phnom Penh-based Prince Group has been linked to the booming Cambodian casino sector.
Following the arrest, thousands of foreign workers fled suspected scam centres in Sihanoukville, a hub of land-based and online casino operations. Montse Ferrer of Amnesty International said the development “reflects the alarming scale of the problem of the scamming industry … and the failure of the government to properly investigate and hold those responsible to account.”
“If the Cambodian government is serious about ending this slave-driven industry, it must now investigate all scamming compounds in the country,” Ferrer told UCA News.