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Bloomberg

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet pledged to step up a crackdown on transnational online scam networks, but warned the criminal syndicates were adapting by fracturing into smaller, decentralised cells across the region.
Authorities had already shut down more than 670 illegal scam operations while expanding intelligence sharing with key international law enforcement partners, he said, including during a visit this week with US Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel.
“We will make Cambodia become an area that’s not easy or worth staying for scams,” Hun Manet said in an interview on Thursday.
Online scam centres have proliferated across Southeast Asia since the pandemic, turning Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos into hubs for criminal enterprises. Although local agencies have stepped up enforcement, rights groups suggest the impact remains limited.

“It’s become more complex,” said Hun Manet. “Technology has allowed them to work in a decentralised manner.”
Hun Manet assumed leadership in August 2023, marking a once-in-a-generation transition that saw his father, Hun Sen, step down after nearly four decades.
A West Point graduate, the 48-year-old leader has projected a more technocratic style of governing, while maintaining an authoritarian grip that has kept the Cambodian People’s Party in power since the Khmer Rouge was overthrown in 1979. Hun Sen, meanwhile, continues to wield significant influence as president of the Senate and head of the ruling party.
Politicians involved?
Cambodia has come under significant international pressure over scam compounds, including from both Washington and Beijing. Rights groups and the United Nations have said the multibillion-dollar scams, and related human trafficking industries, operate with the complicity and protection of elements close to the country’s political and business elite.
The US, for example, has targeted prominent Cambodian senators Ly Yong Phat and Kok An with sanctions due to their alleged involvement in human trafficking, forced labour and cyber scam compound networks that defrauded American citizens.
Hun Manet described those designations as legal matters being fought in court. He also said state agencies actively investigated cases involving both government officials and business executives.
“We have taken action against a number of officials,” including the dismissal and prosecution of military generals and provincial governors, he said.


The UN Office on Drugs and Crime said in a report this week that the combined losses last year from scams across East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand were estimated to be as much as US$114 billion.
Turning to border tensions with Thailand, Hun Manet urged Bangkok to immediately resume joint boundary demarcation talks so more than 20,000 displaced citizens can return to their homes in the border provinces.
While there has been a ceasefire since the conflict broke out a year ago, “it remains fragile because thousands of troops are still stationed face-to-face along the border”, according to the prime minister.
He further called Thai claims that Cambodia’s pursuit of UN maritime conciliation justifies halting land-border negotiations “inaccurate and a little bit unfair”. Hun Manet stressed that land demarcation and maritime discussions remain legally separate under existing bilateral frameworks.
“For now, at this stage, let’s focus on getting the process moving,” he said.


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Cambodia

Hun Manet vows to make Cambodia ‘not worth staying’ for scammers

A soldier stands guard inside a compound that is believed to have been used for scam operations in O’Smach, near the Thai-Cambodian border, on March 6. Photo: Reuters

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet (righ) shakes hands with FBI Director Kash Patel during a meeting at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh on Wednesday. Photo: AKP/AFP

Can Asean keep the Thailand-Cambodia peace?

The Asean Observer Team visits an area of Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey province where a civilian was killed. Photo: AKP/AFP

A delegation from the Asean Observer Team visit Cambodian civilians in a hospital in November. Photo: AKP/AFP

Cambodian soldiers stand guard in front of containers and barbed wire deployed by Thailand at the border in March. Photo: EPA

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi (centre) looks on as Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn (left)and Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow shake hands in Yunnan province in December. Photo: AKP/AFP

A man kneels beside unexploded mortar shells in Cambodia on January 3 following earlier clashes between Cambodian and Thai soldiers. Photo: AFP

Police raids reveal Indonesia as new hub for scam syndicates

Foreign nationals suspected of running an online gambling operation at an office building in Jakarta await transport after being arrested in the Indonesian capital on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Police officers stand guard before suspected online gambling operators are transferred following a police raid at an office building in Jakarta on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Equipment used at a scam centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, seen in March. Photo: AP

US slaps sanctions on Cambodian senator suspected of controlling scam centres

Equipment used at a scam centre in Phnom Penh in March. This year Cambodia has conducted the largest crackdown on scam bases since the crisis emerged during the pandemic. Photo: AP

A Thai soldier walks inside a workstation inside a compound in O’Smach used for scam operations, at the Chong Chom-O’Smach border crossing, on April 7. Photo: Reuters

Fake app drains Filipino retiree’s life savings via ‘malware-as-a-service’

“Malware-as-a-service” seizes control of a user’s phone after gaining entry through a fraudulent app, monitoring use in real-time and harvesting data such as fingerprints. Photo: Shutterstock

Workers walk out of a suspected scam centre compound in Sihanoukville on January 15. The Cambodian coastal city has long been notorious as a cyber-fraud hub. Photo: AFP

Smuggled chicken discovery hints at Cambodian shortages amid Thai border row

Cambodian boats stopped by Thai authorities earlier this month in Thailand’s eastern coastal province of Trat. Photo: Facebook / RTNSpokesperson

Thai officers trudged through the mangrove forest in the Hat Lek area of Trat and found dozens of plastic bags containing rotten chicken stuck among the tree roots. Photo: NBT

An employee pumps petrol into a customer’s motorbike in Phnom Penh on April 1. Cambodia’s government has spent tens of millions of dollars importing fuel. Photo: AFP

Cambodian vendors sell their food on a main street in front of the royal palace in Phnom Penh on April 15. Cambodia’s economy is taking a pummelling from the oil crisis. Photo: AP

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

Cambodia has come under significant international pressure over scam compounds, including from both the US and China


Cambodia has come under significant international pressure over scam compounds, including from both the US and China.


Hun Manet vows to make Cambodia ‘not worth staying’ for scammers

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Cambodia has come under significant international pressure over scam compounds, including from both the US and China

Cambodia has come under significant international pressure over scam compounds, including from both the US and China