Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words Online scams are a defining transnational threat of our time. Across the world, families, businesses and governments are losing money, data and security to sophisticated cross-border criminal syndicates. In
Southeast Asia, these networks have moved rapidly across borders, preying on citizens at home and abroad.
Cambodia is a victim of these crimes, not a beneficiary. Many compounds uncovered here were run by foreign criminals who
trafficked workers from over 20 nations, including Cambodians, lured by fake job offers. They are confined, stripped of their passports, forced to work long hours, and threatened with violence if they refused to commit fraud. Such crimes drain billions from economies, traumatise victims and undermine trust in Asean’s vision of a secure, integrated digital economy.
Cambodia has never tolerated such crimes. Under Prime Minister Hun Manet, the government is
acting decisively to dismantle them. In July, the prime minister
issued a nationwide directive requiring all governors, police, military, immigration and judicial authorities to treat cybercrime as a national security priority, with removal for those who fail to act.
Since then, Cambodia has launched operations to raid scam compounds, rescue trafficked victims, deport foreign criminals and arrest the ringleaders. Phnom Penh’s dedicated Anti-Scam Task Force and authorities across the country are dismantling financial and logistical networks that support organised crime.
Yet no country can confront this challenge alone. These syndicates operate like multinational corporations: their servers may be hosted in one country, ringleaders based in another, and illicit funds routed through multiple jurisdictions to evade detection.
