Sawt Falasteen - Cambodia showcases scams crackdown with global conference

Around 20 countries including the US and China will be represented at the meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, held amid international pressure on Phnom Penh do more to tackle the multi-billion-dollar online scam industry.

Southeast Asia has emerged as a hub for crime syndicates running centres filled with scammers -- some willing, some trafficked -- who defraud internet users through fake romantic relationships or cryptocurrency investment schemes.

Cambodia stands accused of having allowed scams to thrive, with some estimates suggesting it has generated the equivalent of as much as half the country's formal GDP in recent years.

Phnom Penh began a high-profile crackdown in 2025 under pressure from its key ally China -- where scams have caused widespread public anger -- as well as the United States, Britain and others.

But analysts say the industry has adapted, dispersing to smaller, lower-profile locations, while in many cases centres were given advance warning of raids, giving them time to evacuate.

A senior FBI official and China's vice minister of public security are listed on the agenda for the conference alongside junior ministers and law enforcement officials.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet is hosting the talks aimed at boosting "collective efforts" against scams.

But analysts expect few concrete outcomes -- and express scepticism about the lasting impact of Cambodia's crackdown despite hundreds of scam centres being shuttered.

"They could come back tomorrow," transnational crime analyst Jacob Sims told AFP.

He said it was "undeniable" the government had acted but warned: "The elite protection networks, the buildings themselves, the financial institutions, the corporate institutions are all completely in place."

Closing remarks at the conference are due to be delivered by Deputy Prime Minister Neth Savoeun, named by two US congressmen last week among individuals they want sanctioned over alleged connections to scam centres.

- 'Getting rich overnight' -

Cambodian authorities on Monday showed off a sprawling scam centre on a 120-hectare (300-acre) site near the Vietnamese border they said had last year employed about 20,000 scammers.

In one room, AFP reporters saw rows of soundproofed phone booths and counterfeit $100 bills scattered on the floor.

On the walls were motivational slogans in Chinese, from "Give it your all" to "Getting rich overnight".

A fake Singapore police station was used as a backdrop for scammers making videocalls posing as officers.

Officials said the centre was jointly run by Prince Group's Chen Zhi and Huione Group's Li Xiong -- both of whom were extradited to China this year.

Hay Makara, an official from Cambodia's anti-scam commission, said authorities had so far closed 663 scam sites, including 86 large compounds, and frozen $300 million in scam-related accounts.

"As of now, there are no more scam compounds," he told reporters.

However, he conceded that "the criminals are adapting... working from rented homes, rented rooms, hotels, even in cars".

- Bare minimum -

The syndicates initially focused on Chinese speakers before broadening their targets to other languages.

The US estimates that in 2025 alone, transnational criminal organisations in Southeast Asia defrauded Americans out of at least $18.2 billion through cyber-enabled scams.

The industry is also concentrated in war-torn Myanmar, with other centres in Laos.

Cambodian authorities said last month they had arrested nearly 30,000 suspects, including 15 high-ranking officials and law enforcement officers.

But Lindsey Kennedy, an expert in organised crime, said there had been no effort to properly investigate the sites closed, nor interview those involved.

"They did the bare minimum," she told AFP.

"There's been no interest in gathering evidence in stopping these groups from moving abroad, from actually dismantling networks."

Several governments have sanctioned individuals and organisations over alleged scamming.

The US on Monday announced new visa restrictions on 32 unnamed individuals, the majority affiliated with the Prince Group, a conglomerate sanctioned by the US, UK and South Korea.

Visiting Phnom Penh in July, FBI Director Kash Patel said online scams were a "top priority", urging "increased efforts to hold high-level scam bosses accountable", and more information sharing on "complicit officials".

China, meanwhile, "consistently keeps up pressure", but does it more quietly, Kennedy said.

"They don't put out sanctions. You only really hear about it when someone gets arrested."

Q.Jaber--SF-PST