Cambodia says it is fighting scammers, but skeptics persist

Cambodia is gathering evidence against “masterminds” of massive cyberfraud operations, the country’s anti-scam minister said, amid criticism that the government’s crackdown has failed to get to those ultimately responsible.

Legal action, “whether it involves the mastermind, the co-conspirator, owner, enabler or protector, it requires time and also it requires evidence,” said Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith, who heads a government commission on combating fraud, said on the sidelines of a global anti-scam conference in Phnom Penh on Thursday.

He said that information given by international partners had enabled action against some suspects and that premature disclosure of investigations could allow suspects to flee.

Cambodia Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith makes welcome remarks during the opening a conference on combating online scams in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Wednesday.

Photo: AP

Cambodia this week hosted representatives of more than a dozen countries for discussions about tackling scam groups.

Cambodia and other Southeast Asian nations emerged after the pandemic as hubs for industrial-sized scam centers where workers are trafficked, detained in grim conditions and forced to defraud strangers online. The US said scam compounds in the region stole US$10 billion from Americans alone in 2024.

Chhay said last month that Cambodia had dismantled large-scale scam compounds since it began a year-long crackdown, although it did not provide a full list of the sites it has raided. Analysts are skeptical, saying that the operation left high-level figures and guardians of the industry unscathed.

“It’s clear that many large compounds remain active despite other operators clearing out and dispersing into smaller, decentralized sites,” said John Wojcik, a senior analyst at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs. “The technology, payment rails, money-laundering networks and facilitators underpinning the industry also continue to operate at scale.”

Chhay said authorities are expanding their investigation into the financial network of Prince Group, a Cambodia-based conglomerate the US said was a front for multibillion-dollar online fraud and money laundering operations.

Its Chinese-born founder, Chen Zhi, was arrested and deported to China from Cambodia earlier this year.

Reporters toured two facilities outside of Phnom Penh that Cambodian authorities said were scam centers belonging to Prince Group — complexes that officials said housed thousands of workers. One had a fake Singaporean police station allegedly used for impersonation fraud.

A Prince Group spokesperson said the facilities “have not been and never were associated with,” the company.