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Prime Minister Hun Manet said Tuesday on Facebook that Cambodia considers “fighting tech-savvy crimes” a priority, amid international pressure over the country’s sprawling online scam networks, which many reports link to elites.
His statement, which also called for national unity after a recent border conflict with Thailand, comes days after the arrest of Chen Zhi, alleged head of vast scam operations under his Prince Group conglomerate, and his extradition to China.
Chen, wanted and sanctioned by the U.S. since last year, was an advisor to Hun Manet and his father, long-time prime minister Hun Sen, and held the “oknha” title, conferred on donors of at least $500,000 to the Cambodian government.
Prince Group is accused in a U.S. indictment of building at least 10 scam compounds in Cambodia, with authorities seizing nearly $15 billion in bitcoin said to be linked to Chen and scam proceeds.
The conglomerate has repeatedly denied involvement in scam operations
“I truly want to see participation marked by commitment and sacrifice for the nation from all relevant actors, especially the Cambodian people, so that we unite as a force of Khmer national solidarity aimed at eliminating all negative issues related to online scam crimes,” Hun Manet wrote.
The 48-year-old leader also cited recent measures and task forces established by the government to counter online scams.
Cambodia’s Commission for Combating Online Scams said it cracked down on 118 operations in the last six months of 2025, arresting nearly 5,000 people from 23 countries. A report from the Ministry of Information said courts had initiated proceedings against 168 alleged masterminds and accomplices.
Observers and transnational crime experts have criticized Phnom Penh’s crackdowns as largely performative, failing to target politically connected elites with alleged ties to the networks.
Phnom Penh municipal spokesperson Dor Samphors, who attended a recent meeting with the city’s governor on security and sites suspected of online scam activity, declined to comment.
An Amnesty International investigation last year identified more than 50 active scam sites across Cambodia, which the rights group said “point towards state complicity in abuses carried out by Chinese criminal gangs.”
Scam centers have proliferated across Southeast Asia, luring victims into bogus investment schemes. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that global losses to online scams reached $18 billion–$37 billion in 2023. A U.N. human rights report the same year estimated at least 120,000 people in Myanmar and 100,000 in Cambodia were forced to work in online scam operations.
Washington has in recent years sanctioned Cambodian financial institutions and companies allegedly involved in scams, often headed by Chinese nationals with Cambodian citizenship or Cambodian elites.
Last year, the U.S. State Department labeled Cambodia a “state sponsor” of human trafficking, alleging senior officials financially benefited from forced labor and criminal activity inside scam compounds.
