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Phnom Penh Municipal police raided a condo in the capital following a week-long investigation, arresting over 60 Cambodians and Chinese nationals suspected of running an investment scam targeting Europe.
“We raided the location last night after investigating it for about a week as the people operate [running online scams] at night,” police chief Chuon Narin confirmed. He declined to elaborate but referred to media reports which stated that the raid and nabbing of eight Chinese nationals and 57 locals took place on the 30th floor of Golden One Service Apartment in Boeng Keng Kang district.
Phnom Penh governor Khuong Sreng said that authorities have checked about 4,000 buildings suspected of hosting online scam operations in the city.
“These offenses are often committed secretly, so we have to continue cracking down. It will be cleaned up by mid-March in line with [our] campaign to examine all buildings.
“About 4,000 buildings [suspected of hosting online scams] have been checked,” Sreng said, declining to disclose details.
While the enforcement campaign has reportedly curbed operations at scam compounds, analysts remain concerned about limited investigations into elites allegedly linked to the scam networks, with some describing it as a “humanitarian crisis” after trafficked victims fled ahead of raids and received little assistance with repatriation.
The nationwide crackdown aimed at “eliminating” scam networks by April broadened in January after mounting international pressure on Cambodia and the extradition of alleged scam kingpin Chen Zhi, a former adviser to the prime minister, to China.
At the closing of the annual anti-drug conference last week, Prime Minister Hun Manet said that the government is committed to combating online scams––part of a campaign to demonstrate goodwill and drive collective action across the ministries and institutions. It is to ensure thorough cleaning to “eliminate a black economy” and “preserve and expand a white economy as much as possible”.
“We commit to implement this consistently to [ensure that] the issue [of online scams] does not affect our country’s reputation or create a wrong impression about Cambodia,” he said.
“This does not mean we aren’t at fault but we must strengthen our laws and enforcement, and not let them use our home [Cambodia] for such a purpose,” Hun Manet added.
He explained that the issue is interconnected because the alleged scam activities in Cambodia impact victims abroad. Cambodia has been used by certain foreigners to scam other foreigners, causing Cambodia to become implicated with them, he said.
Interior Ministry spokesperson Touch Sokhak could not be reached for comment.
The European Union Embassy in Phnom Penh did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
