Sawt Falasteen - Cambodia deports more than 600 Thais linked to cyberscams: minister

Cambodia has emerged as a hub for crime syndicates running fake romantic relationship and cryptocurrency investment schemes in which scammers -- some willing, others trafficked -- defraud internet users around the world.

Operated out of hotels, casinos and fortified compounds around the region, the global cyberscam industry has reached "industrial proportions", with estimates of its annual revenues as high as $64 billion, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Cambodian Information Minister Neth Pheaktra told AFP "635 Thai nationals involved in illegal online business operations and transnational criminal networks were deported to Thailand" through a border checkpoint on Thursday.

Thirty suspects were "being processed by Cambodian authorities" over alleged criminal offences, he said.

Rights monitors and other experts have accused officials in Cambodia of complicity -- allegations the government has denied.

Authorities say they have detained and deported more than 13,000 foreign nationals involved in online scams since early last year.

From January to April, more than 240,000 people, including Chinese, Indonesians, Indians and others, accused of scam involvement "voluntarily departed" Cambodia, the government said last week.

Neth Pheaktra said police searched a condominium building in Poipet city, on the border with Thailand, on Saturday.

The location was suspected of being the site of illegal online businesses, online gambling and other activities "potentially linked to transnational criminal networks", the minister said.

Nearly 4,700 mobile phones and more than 400 computer monitors were found inside the building, he added.

"The inspection of electronic devices also uncovered numerous online gambling websites targeting customers in Thailand," he said.

The raid came two days after the United States announced sanctions on a Cambodian senator and businessman, Kok An, who Washington accused of controlling scam compounds in Cambodia and protecting a criminal network that has defrauded Americans of millions of dollars.

The US Treasury alleged Kok An's firm Crown Resorts owns casinos and other buildings, including in Poipet, that have been "converted into compounds from which criminal organizations conduct digital asset investment fraud and other scams".

Cambodian authorities raided another suspected scam compound in Poipet on Wednesday, detaining many foreigners, mostly Chinese nationals, police said.

O.Farraj--SF-PST