Cambodia cracks down, but scam networks move on

 Cambodia’s government is trying to show the world that it no  longer tolerates the scam economy that turned parts of the  country into a global base for online fraud, forced labour and  money laundering. The signs are visible: raids, deportations,  extraditions, and a new cybercrime law. The money involved is  enormous. A 2025 study by the US-based Humanity Research  Consultancy estimated Cambodia’s scam industry to be worth  $12.5 billion to $19 billion a year. An earlier United States Institute  of Peace study estimated that Mekong-based syndicates steal  more than $43.8 billion annually. 

In Phnom Penh, 35-year-old construction worker Sophea is  sceptical of government claims: ‘The general public believes  online scams have not yet been fully and thoroughly cleaned up  across the entire country’. He says the masterminds have not all  been arrested and without investigations reaching powerful  people, the crackdown would only touch ‘the fingertips or the  tips of the nails.'  

The official crackdown 

Prime Minister Hun Manet ordered the authorities to attack  scam networks ‘at the root’ without delay, tolerance or exception.  In March the National Assembly passed a law criminalising  online fraud, scam-centre leadership, recruitment, illicit data  collection and scam-linked money laundering, with penalties up  to life imprisonment and asset seizure. An April statement said  the authorities had handled more than 250 online scam cases  since July 2025 involving 91 casino sites and about 1,089 suspects.  More than 13,000 foreigners had been deported since early 2025. 

Cambodian authorities have launched raids, arrests and  deportations as part of a nationwide campaign against online fraud networks. Photo: AP 

But experts say the official timetable itself shows the problem.  Jason Tower, senior expert at the Global Initiative Against  Transnational Organized Crime, pointed to the early promise  that scam centres could be cleared out within one month. Tower  said the industry involves an estimated 150,000 to 200,000  people. He said ‘this is not the kind of thing that just simply is  shut off overnight.' According to Tower, the short timeline  worried observers because it suggested a campaign-style  operation rather than a long-term dismantling. Tower described  the current situation as ‘a state of chaos,' with tens of thousands  fleeing compounds: some trafficking victims, others criminal  actors, and many stranded or at risk of extortion, re-trafficking  or recruitment into new hubs. 

Lindsey Kennedy, research director at the Eyewitness Project,  sees this crackdown as more meaningful than previous ones. In  the past, companies were tipped off and moved workers before  raids. She said this time is different because some compounds  were truly raided and bosses fled, allowing tens of thousands of  victims to escape. But she shares Tower’s concern. Many  companies have moved to Myanmar or Laos, she said, while  ‘very few genuinely high-level arrests’ have been made, meaning  the main players remain free to rebuild elsewhere.

In June a report by Amnesty International echoed those  concerns, saying more than 70% of 86 identified compounds  appeared to have been bypassed and none of 73 survivors  interviewed had been recognised as trafficking victims. 

Online scam compounds often feature razor wire fences and barred windows to prevent workers from escaping. Photo: Reuters 

Exporting the crisis 

The scam economy has never been only Cambodian. It is a  regional business built on borders, casinos, real estate, fake  recruitment, crypto laundering and corrupt protection. Victims  are global; workers come from across Asia, Africa and beyond. 

‘This is real disruption, but it is only impacting the visible front  end—the compounds—of a deeper problem’, said Jacob Sims, a  visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Asia Center and an expert on transnational crime and human rights in Southeast Asia.  ‘The elites running the compounds remain unaccountable, and  the primary money laundering and underground banking  channels remain intact.’ 

Tower said one of the most serious consequences is that people  were allowed to leave Cambodia freely instead of being  processed through a law enforcement and victim-screening  system. ‘Many of these are criminal actors who’ve flooded across  borders into other countries where they’ve resumed scamming’,  Tower said. ‘This has really become something of Cambodia’s  gift to the world. They’ve unleashed this flood of scammers onto  other countries.’ 

Reports of scam suspects and workers have appeared beyond  Cambodia, from Vietnam and Indonesia to Sri Lanka and  African countries such as Uganda. Cambodia and Myanmar  remain major scam hubs, Tower said. ‘I don’t see that going away  anytime soon’, he said, pointing to large scam parks along  Myanmar’s border with Thailand and continuing operations in  Cambodia and Laos.

Experts warn that crackdowns in one country can push scam operators  and workers across borders, spreading the problem throughout Southeast  Asia. Source: Amnesty International 

Pressure from Beijing 

China now sits at the centre of Cambodia’s crackdown. Beijing’s  pressure became more visible in April, when Chinese Foreign  Minister Wang Yi and Defence Minister Dong Jun visited Phnom  Penh. China’s Foreign Ministry said Wang told Cambodian  officials that combating online gambling and telecom fraud was  vital to public safety, and that both sides must ‘resolutely and  thoroughly remove this cancer.' Cambodian Foreign Minister  Prak Sokhonn said Cambodia would ‘resolutely combat’ those  crimes with China. 

Kin Phea, director general of the International Relations  Institute of Cambodia, said Cambodia’s response is driven by  both domestic priorities and Chinese engagement. China, he  said, wants to protect its citizens, fight transnational crime and  protect its regional reputation, while Cambodia wants stability  and credibility. China is taking the scam issue more seriously,  Sims said, partly because it has become embarrassing for Beijing  at home and abroad. 

Tower sees a more complicated China story: ‘China helped to  enable all of this,' he said, referring to Chinese state-owned  enterprises that built infrastructure later used as industrial-scale  scam compounds and to China-linked criminal actors in  Cambodia. But since 2023, China has also increased pressure as  the United States, Britain, South Korea and others exposed,  sanctioned and indicted scam operators. 

Beyond the compounds 

The raids have hit the compounds. They have not yet proved that  Cambodia can hit the system behind them. Sims said  Cambodia’s scam economy ‘appears to go well beyond a  traditional law enforcement issue’, and described it as linked to  ‘the upper echelons of the ruling party’s elite patronage system.'  The main beneficiaries, he said, are political and economic elites  who gained as landlords and protectors of the syndicates. 

Kin Phea said the issue is now understood in Cambodia as more  than policing. It touches governance, national reputation,  economic sustainability and social trust. A meaningful response,  he said, requires regional coordination, intelligence sharing,  financial monitoring, cybercrime enforcement and  anti-corruption measures. 

Workers say the rise and fall of scam-linked developments has left many ordinary Cambodians facing economic uncertainty and debt. 

For construction worker Sophea, the issue is not abstract.  Scam-linked buildings, casinos and Chinese-backed projects  may create short-term work for drivers, construction workers  and suppliers. But after raids, he said, buildings are shuttered,  vehicles are returned damaged, and ordinary people are left with  debt and hardship. He wants a cleanup that reaches everyone.  ‘We want to see a deep, transparent and fair cleanup under the  law—one with no exceptions’. Only then, he said, can Cambodia  restore trust among citizens and investors, and rebuild an  economy known not for scam compounds, but for honest work.