Cambodia Declares End to Online Scam Compounds, Experts Express Doubt
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia claimed on Friday that it no longer hosts any of the online scam compounds that once made the country a global hub for cybercrime, a statement met with skepticism from human rights groups and independent experts who say the problem persists in new forms.
The government’s Ad-Hoc Commission for Combating Online Scams (CCOS), led by Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith, announced the achievement after a Thursday meeting with about 50 representatives of foreign diplomatic missions and international organizations, according to 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,” the statement said.
Chhay Sinarith told the diplomats that “large-scale scam activities have been brought fully under control, and there are currently no online scam compounds remaining in the country.”
The government provided statistics to back its claim: from July 2025 to August 20, 2026, law enforcement investigated 793 suspected scam locations and raided 624 sites, detaining nearly 30,000 suspects representing 39 nationalities. Authorities also rescued and deported 58,266 foreign nationals, while 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 become Cambodian citizens and were extradited earlier this year after their arrests.
However, the government’s assertion drew sharp criticism from experts who track the scam networks.
Mark Taylor, an independent international anti-trafficking consultant and former head of an anti-trafficking program in Cambodia, said: “The strong confidence placed in the [Cambodian] government’s assertion that all scamming operations in Cambodia have been eradicated is severely misplaced.”
Taylor added: “There are credible indicators that significant scamming operations continue and that recruitment of foreign workers into Cambodia for scamming work continues.”
Amnesty International’s co-regional director, Montse Ferrer, expressed similar doubts, saying the rights group is “highly skeptical of suggestions the scamming compound industry has been effectively eliminated.”
“The true test of long-term success is not how many compounds have closed, but whether the actors responsible have been investigated, prosecuted and prevented from resuming operations,” Ferrer said.
Even those who acknowledged progress urged caution. Michael Brosowski, founder and strategic director of Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, said: “There is no doubt that some of Cambodia’s criminal compounds used for online scamming have closed,” citing a drastic decrease in calls from trafficked people.
But Brosowski added: “We hope that the Cambodian government will keep its close down these compounds and give greater protection to victims of this crime.”
The Cambodian government statement itself conceded that criminal groups have shifted to decentralized operations, hiding in guesthouses, condominiums, rental houses, vehicles, and coffee shops, which authorities said they will continue to target.
The scam compounds, largely run by Chinese criminal syndicates, have proliferated across Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, and Myanmar-Thai border areas since the pandemic. The scams caused estimated combined losses of $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion in 2025, according to a July report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Thousands of foreign nationals recruited with false job offers have been forced to run “romance” and cryptocurrency scams in conditions of near-slavery, according to previous reporting by The Associated Press.
Reuters news agency said it has not independently confirmed the eradication claim.