Cambodia claims it has wiped out online scam compounds after a sweeping
crackdown
[August 29, 2026] PHNOM
PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia, notorious for being a major center for
international online scams, claimed Friday it no longer hosts any of the
compounds where the lucrative cybercrime was carried out, although some
remain skeptical.
The government’s Ad-Hoc Commission for Combating Online Scams, CCOS,
claimed success for its crackdown at a Thursday meeting with about 50
representatives of foreign diplomatic missions and international
organizations led by Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith, who heads the
anti-scam agency, it said in a statement issued Friday.
“This follows the complete eradication of large-scale online scam
operations, strict legal actions against perpetrators, networks and
involved officials, alongside the systematic establishment of a
cybersecurity legal framework,” it said.
Chhay Sinarith's claims were met with both skepticism and guarded
optimism from independent groups that have tracked the scam compounds,
which are infamous not only for bilking billions of dollars from people
all over the world, but also for carrying out human trafficking.
Thousands of foreign nationals, who are employed to run “romance” and
cryptocurrency scams to swindle victims, are often recruited with false
job offers and then forced to work in conditions of near-slavery.
Such scams caused estimated combined losses of $88.3 billion to $114.1
billion in 2025, said a report in July by the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime.
“The strong confidence placed in the (Cambodian) government’s assertion
that all scamming operations in Cambodia have been eradicated is
severely misplaced,” Mark Taylor, an independent international
anti-trafficking consultant and former head of an anti-trafficking
program in Cambodia, told The Associated Press.
“There are credible indicators that significant scamming operations
continue and that recruitment of foreign workers into Cambodia for
scamming work continues."
Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, a Vietnam-based anti-human
trafficking organization, took more of a wait-and-see attitude.
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Thai soldiers inspect a work station at the scam compound in O'Smach,
Cambodia, April 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)
 “There is no doubt that some of
Cambodia’s criminal compounds used for online scamming have closed,”
said Michael Brosowski, the group’s founder and strategic director,
citing a drastic decrease in calls from people who have been
trafficked, although the calls have not stopped.
“We hope that the Cambodian government will keep its commitment to
close down these compounds and give greater protection to victims of
this crime."
Chhay Sinarith said that from July 2025 to Aug. 20, 2026, law
enforcement forces investigated 793 suspected scam locations and
raided 624 sites, while detaining nearly 30,000 suspects
representing 39 nationalities.
Cambodian authorities rescued and deported 58,266 foreign nationals,
he said, and 3,477 criminal suspects from 29 nationalities were
arrested and placed in pretrial detention.
The crackdown was highlighted by the takedown of two alleged
kingpins of the illicit trade, Chen Zhi and Li Xiong, influential
Chinese businessmen who had also become Cambodian citizens and were
extradited earlier this year after their arrests.
Cambodian lawmakers unanimously adopted a new law in March targeting
online scam operations with sentences of up to life in prison,
following a government pledge to shut down the centers by the end of
April.
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