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Prime Minister Hun Manet met Kash Patel, director of the FBI, the top U.S. federal law enforcement agency, on Wednesday to discuss joint efforts to combat online scam operations that continue to target U.S. citizens, the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh said.
Patel also met Sar Thet, commissioner general of Cambodia’s National Police, during the visit. He met Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul a day earlier, with the two sides agreeing to expand cooperation against transnational crime, particularly online scam syndicates.
The embassy said the visit underscored the need for stronger joint efforts against transnational cybercrime, including steps to hold “high-level scam bosses accountable” and improve information-sharing on “complicit officials and scam compound owners.”
It said the United States remains “deeply concerned” about the proliferation of online scam operations in Cambodia, which it said have stolen billions of dollars from American victims, and that combating the industry remains a top U.S. priority.
In a Facebook post, Hun Manet said he and Patel had reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen security cooperation, with a focus on transnational crime, drug trafficking and online scams. He said Cambodia will host an international conference on combating online scams in September to boost regional and global collaboration.
The embassy said it appreciated Hun Manet’s pledge to counter the illicit industry and that it was coordinating closely with the Cambodian government.
The meeting comes after the FBI participated in a multi-agency U.S. investigation that culminated last year in authorities seizing roughly $15 billion in bitcoin allegedly tied to scam proceeds linked to Chen Zhi, founder of the Cambodian conglomerate Prince Group and a former adviser to Hun Manet.
Chen Zhi was extradited by Cambodian authorities to China earlier this year after Washington imposed sweeping sanctions on Prince Group, and Hun Manet later said he had been unaware Chen was a “kingpin.”
Prime Minister’s spokesperson Meas Sophorn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cambodia launched its anti-scam campaign a year ago amid mounting U.S. and international pressure to crack down on the industry, closing hundreds of scam compounds and deporting tens of thousands of foreign scam workers, according to the government.
Rights groups have criticized the crackdown for shortcomings, saying it has failed to protect trafficking victims found in raided compounds and has not led to prosecutions of local elites connected to the industry.
