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Bryanna Entwistle

On April 1, amid China’s cybercrime offensive in Southeast Asia, Cambodia extradited to China Li Xiong, former chairman of Huione Group, which had been severed from the US financial system last year for laundering at least US$336 million from cyber scams between 2021 and 2025. The US had also sanctioned Huione’s parent company, Prince Group, and indicted founder Chen Zhi. In January, Cambodia extradited Chen to China, securing the arrest of a man accused of being Cambodia’s biggest scam kingpin.
The takedown occurred after parallel but apparently uncoordinated efforts from the United States and China.
This pressure has forced Cambodia to crack down on scam operations, vowing to eradicate the industry by the end of this month. The government claims to have raided about 250 locations and has passed legislation imposing tough penalties on offenders.
But this appears to have only scratched the surface. The deeper system remains intact, protected by politically connected elites who are likely to emerge unscathed. The next stage in tackling the cybercrime epidemic mandates the same combination that brought down Li and Chen: US economic leverage and Chinese operational efforts.
It is a rare moment of mutual interest and should be on the agenda, with US President Donald Trump expected to visit Beijing next month.
Both Chinese and Americans have been targeted by the scam industry operating out of Cambodia, worth as much as US$19 billion annually. The industry, which bloomed during the Covid-19 pandemic, began by scamming Chinese nationals but China’s robust anti-scam campaign led operators to pivot their attention elsewhere. In 2024 alone, Americans lost some US$10 billion to Southeast Asia-based scammers.


The US has been increasing pressure on Cambodia to address this. During trade negotiations, Washington gave Cambodia a 90-day window to demonstrate progress on scam centres as a condition for tariff relief. Sanctions, like those on Prince Group, have also been effective, given Cambodia’s highly dollarised economy. American companies have pulled back on investment, compounding the pressure on an already strained economy.
The conflict along the border with Thailand has left Phnom Penh vulnerable to such pressure. As the weaker of the two, Cambodia needed both Washington and Beijing’s support to broker a ceasefire. China remains Cambodia’s most reliable patron, but US-Cambodian relations hit a nadir in 2017. Prime Minister Hun Manet’s response to US pressure on scamming has run in parallel with a rapprochement involving the US lifting its arms embargo and resuming joint military exercises.
Cambodia’s scam crackdown is the product of these pressures, but it is far from complete. Conservative UN estimates put the number of people trafficked into Cambodian scam centres at 100,000, meaning that, according to government claims, only about 10 per cent have been released and repatriated.
Furthermore, the crackdown is looking past well-connected tycoons like Cambodian senator Ly Yong Phat, sanctioned by the US for scam operations but whose Koh Kong properties remain untouched. Scam compounds in Prey Veng, Tbong Khmum and Svay Rieng also reportedly continue to operate largely undisturbed, shielded by ties to the ruling elite.
To reach the key perpetrators, the US and China must consolidate their efforts and create a list of shared targets. While the US can crank up economic pressure and leverage its partners to coordinate sanctions, it is China that has an extradition treaty with Cambodia.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has admitted one of the biggest barriers to combating scam centres in Southeast Asia is that any arrest is conditional on local cooperation. Combining US economic leverage and Chinese operational efforts will enable the US and China to continue to take down operators Phnom Penh isn’t eager to hand over.
There is also reason for the US and China to discuss operationalising financial information sharing to trace and disrupt money flows related to scamming. A memorandum of understanding between the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and China Anti-Money Laundering Monitoring and Analysis Centre was signed in 2015, but evidence suggests it was never meaningfully activated.
While the bilateral Financial Working Group, established in 2023, made anti-money-laundering coordination a standing agenda item, this remains a high-level policy dialogue mechanism rather than a transaction-level information-sharing one. Activating the FinCEN channel to track money laundering tied to scam operations would fill that gap.
Still, barriers to cooperation remain. Within US policy circles, conversation about scams is often flattened into a single narrative: China fuelling the scam industry. The reality is more complicated. Many compounds are operated by Chinese nationals with dual Cambodian citizenship, but that is a different claim from Communist Party direction or endorsement.

A 2025 US-China Economic and Security Review Commission report pointed to alleged scam kingpin She Zhijiang as having received tacit support from the Chinese government, but She was extradited to China in November and could face the death penalty. Beijing’s previous inaction – in some cases due to the limits of Chinese power in Southeast Asia – should not be conflated with the government’s willingness to combat scamming.
As Trump’s Beijing visit approaches, American policymakers should shift their frame from China as perpetrator to Beijing as potential partner in dismantling Cambodia’s scam networks.
The extent to which the Chinese syndicates operating scam centres are connected with actors within the Chinese government remains murky, but enforcement efforts suggest Beijing is serious about taking down kingpins, not protecting them. Scam network dismantlement is one area where US and Chinese interests converge. Leaving it off the agenda would be a significant miss.


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Cambodia

To beat Cambodia’s scam gangs, US must work with China – not blame it

Illustration: Craig Stephens

Li Xiong, the China-born former boss of a financial services firm accused by the US of laundering illicit funds, is escorted off a China Southern Airlines plane on April 1. Photo: China’s Ministry of Public Security

She Zhijiang, an alleged transnational crime kingpin, is escorted by police at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, ahead of being extradited to China, on November 12, 2025. Photo: AP

‘A game of whack-a-mole’: how could the scam industry bring China and the US together?

Illustration: Davies Christian

A Cambodian police officer stands guard near a deserted scam compound in Kampot province, Cambodia, in February. Photo: Reuters

Food was available from morning until night at the scam compound in Kampot province, Cambodia, but workers who left their desks were obliged to notify a supervisor, and personal phones were subject to periodic checks. Photo: Laura Zhou

Located in a secluded area of Cambodia bordering Vietnam, the scam compound known as My Casino housed 6,000 to 7,000 people across 31 multi-storey buildings, according to authorities. On January 17, the facility’s alleged boss, Ly Kuong, was detained, enabling thousands to flee. Photo: Laura Zhou

A photo from inside the abandoned scam compound in Kampot province, Cambodia, shows “client” lists including target earnings and amounts extracted so far. Photo: Laura Zhou

As Cambodia’s scam crackdown deadline looms, criminal gangs flee

A Thai soldier shines a torch into a room disguised as a Chinese police station inside an abandoned scam centre on the Thai-Cambodian border on March 12. Photo: AFP

A Cambodian military official shows computer equipment seized from raided cyberscam centres on March 11. Photo: AFP

Armed police escort Chen Zhi off a plane in January following his extradition from Cambodia in this screen grab from a video. Photo: China’s Ministry of Public Security/AFP

Detained scam centre suspects sleep at a police station in Phnom Penh on March 11. Photo: AFP

A room damaged by border clashes is seen inside an abandoned scam centre in O’Smach town on the Thai-Cambodian border on March 12. Photo: AFP

A group of Indonesian nationals removed from scam compounds are seen being deported via Techo International Airport earlier this month. Photo: Aidan Jones

Cambodian authorities display IDs and equipment seized from scam centres at a building in Phnom Penh on March 11. Photo: EPA

‘Like a horror movie’: Hongkonger rescued after forced labour ordeal in Myanmar

The man is reunited with his family. Photo: Security Bureau

The cross-regional task force secured the man’s release. Photo: Security Bureau

Opinion

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United States & Canada

Taking down the deeply rooted, well-connected syndicates would require both Washington’s economic leverage and Beijing’s operational efforts


Taking down the deeply rooted, well-connected syndicates would require both Washington’s economic leverage and Beijing’s operational efforts.


Scams and swindles

Crime

Chen Zhi

Prince Group

Southeast Asia forced-labour scams

Human trafficking

US-China relations

Thailand

United States

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


To beat Cambodia’s scam gangs, US must work with China – not blame it

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Taking down the deeply rooted, well-connected syndicates would require both Washington’s economic leverage and Beijing’s operational efforts

Taking down the deeply rooted, well-connected syndicates would require both Washington’s economic leverage and Beijing’s operational efforts