Scam centers in Cambodia are clandestine fraud operations, known as scam centers, controlled by international and organized criminal networks specializing in online fraud and operating in Cambodia. The operations of organized crime in the country is a serious regional issue, and their activities are estimated to generate between $12.5 and $19 billion annually, a figure that could represent up to 60% of the Cambodia's gross domestic product (GDP). According to a 2024 United Nations (UN) report, an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 people, many of them foreign nationals deceived by fraudulent job offers, are believed to have been trafficked and held in Cambodian compounds where they are forced to engage in online scam operations under exploitative conditions.
Several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and eyewitness accounts report cases of human trafficking, forced labor, torture, child exploitation and other forms of abuse from Cambodian scam centers. While these centers operate de jure in violation of Cambodian law, they are reportedly based openly in casinos, hotels, office buildings, or residential areas, including in cities such as Sihanoukville and the country's capital of Phnom Penh. According to various international reporting bodies, they appear to benefit from a degree of impunity, or even complicity, from various Cambodian officials.
Hun Sen rose to power in 1988—and subsequently of his son Hun Manet in 2023—was characterized by the consolidation of executive power, the centralization of economic resources among political elites, and the cultivation of close ties between senior government officials and criminal syndicates operating across Southeast Asia, particularly in the spheres of gambling, casino operations, and human trafficking.[3] The United States Department of State has repeatedly denounced the Cambodian government's complicity with these networks, alleging that officials have shielded and financially profited from their activities.[4][5][6]
This environment of corruption and political patronage has created fertile ground for the expansion of transnational criminal networks, including Chinese triads that have fled increased crackdowns in China since 2018. Many of these groups have established operations in special economic zones such as Sihanoukville, where lax regulation and political protection have enabled them to thrive.[1]
Historically concentrated in the casino sector, criminal networks operating in Cambodia were severely impacted by the 2019 adoption of a law tightening gambling regulations—specifically banning online gambling—and the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a sharp decline in tourism, especially from China.[1][7] Faced with economic losses, crime organizations involved in the Cambodian casino industry began collaborating with long-standing human trafficking networks in the country and gradually shifted their operations to online scams and the exploitation of forced labor.[1]
From 2021, several Cambodian establishments previously linked to online gambling—such as casinos and hotels (including some in major urban centers), were converted into online scam compounds.[1][8] That same year, videos filmed inside some scam compounds showing employees subjected to physical abuse and torture were made public, drawing international media attention and concern.[9]
Crackdown from 2022
In 2022, several Cambodian police operations were conducted against scam compounds across the country.[10] Further raids took place in Sihanoukville in 2024, resulting in the arrest of 450 individuals involved in online gambling and scam operations.[11] These operations did not succeed in permanently dismantling these networks or ending ongoing allegations of government complicity and tolerance, which have been denounced by numerous NGOs and international institutions.[12][13] In June 2025, a report by Amnesty International brought renewed global media attention on Cambodian scam compounds.[14][15][16][17] In July 2025, the Prime Minister announced a "task force" dedicated to combating online scam centers.[18]
Timeline of recent events
Year
Major developments
2023
April: Cambodian authorities deported 19 Japanese nationals who had been detained on suspicion of involvement in phone and online scam operations.[19]
May: Southeast Asian leaders at the ASEAN summit pledged a regional crackdown on online scams and the human trafficking that supplies labour to scam operations, amid reports of jobseekers lured by offers in countries including Cambodia.[20]
June:Interpol issued a global warning on “human trafficking-fueled fraud”, describing the use of trafficking victims in large-scale online scam operations based largely in Southeast Asia.[21]
August: A United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) policy brief on cyber fraud and trafficking for forced criminality described scam-compound operations in Southeast Asia, including extensive criminal operations in Cambodia using casino and special-economic-zone infrastructure and trafficked labour.[22]
August: The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report on cyber scams and related trafficking/forced labor in Southeast Asia, estimating that about 100,000 people in Cambodia were held in scam operations.[23]
November: Cambodia deported 25 Japanese nationals suspected of operating online scams after arrests in Phnom Penh.[24]
December: Interpol reported on Operation Storm Makers II (carried out 16–20 October), in which participating countries conducted inspections at trafficking and migrant-smuggling hotspots linked to movements of victims to cyber scam centres; Interpol said the operation resulted in arrests, rescues, and new investigations.[25]
2024
March: Cambodian authorities conducted raids in Sihanoukville, arresting more than 450 people allegedly linked to illegal online gambling and pig butchering scam operations.[26]
March: India said it had rescued and repatriated about 250 citizens from Cambodia who had been lured by job offers and forced to participate in cyber fraud schemes.[27]
April: Cambodia deported 130 Chinese nationals suspected of fraud-related activities and illegal online gambling, following raids in Sihanoukville.[28]
June: The U.S. State Department’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons report said corruption and official complicity in trafficking remained widespread, including exploitation of victims in forced criminality in online scam operations in Cambodia (and Cambodia remained Tier 3).[29]
September: The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Cambodian senator and tycoon Ly Yong Phat for facilitating cyber scam operations and human trafficking.[30]
October: Cambodian authorities arrested investigative journalist Mech Dara, known for reporting on trafficking and online scam compounds.[31]
October: Cambodian police raided a housing complex in Kampong Speu province and detained around 1,000 foreign nationals, mainly Chinese and Koreans, amid allegations it was linked to cyber-scam operations.[32]
November: China repatriated 240 arrested Chinese gambling and fraud suspects from Cambodia as part of a joint anti-fraud campaign (following an earlier 2024 repatriation from Cambodia of more than 680 suspects, according to Chinese state media).[33]
2025
February: Thai and Cambodian police raided a building in Poipet and said they freed 215 foreign nationals from a scam centre.[34]
March: Thailand said it was studying construction of a wall along parts of its border with Cambodia amid a widening crackdown on scam centres, after Thai authorities received nationals rescued from a Poipet compound.[35]
April: A UNODC report warned that scam-centre operations were spreading and shifting to more remote and border areas to evade enforcement; a Cambodian government spokesperson said an ad hoc commission chaired by Prime Minister Hun Manet had been established to address online scams.[36]
May: The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) identified Cambodia-based Huione Group as a “primary money laundering concern” and proposed a rule to bar it from the U.S. financial system, citing alleged links to laundering proceeds from cyber heists and online scams.[37]
May: Japan said some Japanese nationals had been detained in Cambodia as the two countries cooperated to crack down on fraud centres; Reuters cited Kyodo as reporting that about 30 suspected Japanese nationals were taken to Phnom Penh after detention in Poipet.[38]
June: Amnesty International published an 18-month investigation alleging widespread abuses in more than 50 scamming compounds and “pointing towards state complicity” (allegations the Cambodian government denied).[39]
June: Reuters reported that Amnesty International identified 53 scam centres and additional suspected sites in Cambodia; a government spokesperson rejected the allegation of inaction and pointed to a task force led by Prime Minister Hun Manet formed earlier in 2025.[40]
July: Following an order by Prime Minister Hun Manet, Cambodian authorities reported arresting more than 1,000 suspects in raids across multiple provinces, including in Poipet and Sihanoukville.[39]
July: AP reported the crackdown occurred amid heightened tensions with Thailand, including Thai measures such as closing crossing points and cutting cross-border electricity supplies, framed by Thailand as part of efforts to combat border-area cyberscam operations.[39]
July: AP reported that Cambodia’s continued raids since June 27 brought total arrests to more than 2,100, with officials saying the crackdown on scam centres would continue.[41]
September: The United States imposed sanctions on cyber scam operators in Myanmar and Cambodia; Reuters reported that 10 Cambodian entities linked to Chinese criminal networks were sanctioned and that Cambodia-based centers were focused on digital currency fraud.[42]
October: The U.S. and U.K. announced coordinated actions against a Cambodia-linked scam network and money-laundering facilitators, including U.S. Treasury designations and a FinCEN final rule severing Huione Group from the U.S. financial system.[43][44][45]
October: The U.S. Justice Department announced an indictment of Chen Zhi, described as chairman of the Prince Group, and a large bitcoin forfeiture action tied to alleged “pig butchering” scams and forced-labour compounds in Cambodia.[46]
October: South Korea issued a “code-black” travel ban for parts of Cambodia (including Poipet and Kampot) and sent officials to assist nationals trapped in scam centres, after the reported death of a South Korean student linked to an employment-scam case.[47]
October: Reuters reported that 64 South Koreans detained in Cambodia in connection with alleged online scam operations returned to South Korea, where most were expected to face investigation.[48]
November: Cambodia and South Korea agreed to strengthen cooperation against online scams; Reuters reported that their national police chiefs launched a joint task force focused on South Korean nationals involved in scam operations based in Cambodia.[49]
Figures and statistics
Total revenue. According to the United States Institute of Peace and consulting firm Humanity Research Consulting, the Cambodian scam compound industry generates between $12.5 and $19 billion annually, which equates to more than half of Cambodia's gross domestic product.[15][50][51][52]
Number of forced workers. According to the UN and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), between 100,000 and 150,000 people are exploited in scam compounds in Cambodia.[2][53] Most of them are from China and other Southeast Asian countries. African nationals and children are also among the victims of these trafficking and recruitment networks.[54][55]
Number of scam victims. Estimating the total number of victims is difficult, as many do not report their cases to authorities out of shame, fear of retaliation, or lack of legal recourse. Most scam victims are Chinese nationals, but U.S. citizens and individuals from other countries have also been affected.[2][57] A report from the Global Anti-Scam Organization indicated that at over 1,838 people of from 46 nationalities have lost an average of $169,000 each through so-called pig butchering scams, many of which are operated from Cambodian scam-centers.[8]
Cambodian scam compounds heavily rely on the pig butchering scam, a romance fraud where the scammer poses as a romantic partner and builds an online relationship with the victim over several weeks or months. They use stolen photos from Chinese social media and create fake profiles on platforms like LinkedIn, OkCupid, Tinder, Instagram, or WhatsApp.[8] Once trust is established, the victim is persuaded to invest in a fraudulent financial scheme, often involving cryptocurrency or fake trading platforms.[58]
Victim experience and trafficking
Scam-centre operations in Cambodia have been associated with human trafficking for forced labour and forced criminality, in which people are recruited for ostensibly legitimate employment and then compelled to conduct online fraud. Regional reporting has described the phenomenon as “human trafficking-fueled fraud”, in which trafficking victims are coerced into large-scale online scam operations based largely in Southeast Asia.[21] A UN human-rights report on cyber scams and trafficking in Southeast Asia estimated that about 100,000 people in Cambodia were held in scam operations, and described victims being forced to carry out online scams under threats and other abuses, including torture and sexual violence.[23]
Recruitment promises and coercion
Recruitment has been linked to online job advertisements and social-media approaches offering well-paid work, including purported office jobs at fake e-commerce or tech companies. Advertisements and approaches have been reported on platforms including Facebook, Telegram, and WeChat.[8][9][14] Victims have described travelling to Cambodia for employment and then being taken to secured compounds, including in casino-linked and special economic zone environments.[22] Upon arrival, victims have been reported as having identity documents confiscated and being forcibly relocated and detained in scam compounds against their will.[59][60]
Confinement, violence and “torture rooms”
Reported control methods have included restriction of movement, confiscation of passports and phones, constant monitoring by security staff, threats of violence, and the imposition of arbitrary fines and artificial debts (a form of debt bondage).[22][8] Reported punishments for attempting to escape or for failing to meet work “quotas” have included beatings and other physical abuse, electrocution and electric shocks, and prolonged confinement.[22][8]
Survivor accounts and human-rights reporting have described the use of small, dark, enclosed rooms used for punitive confinement and abuse, sometimes referred to as “torture rooms”.[61][40] In September 2024, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Cambodian senator and tycoon Ly Yong Phat and associated businesses for facilitating cyber scams and human trafficking, and described scam-centre operations linked to an O Smach resort complex in which victims’ passports and phones were confiscated and victims were forced to conduct online scams and subjected to physical abuse.[30]
Ransom, debts and sale or transfer of victims
Victims and their families have reported being pressured to pay money for release, including demands described as “ransom” payments, and being told they owed a debt to the compound that had to be worked off.[61] Investigative reporting has also described victims being “sold” or transferred between compounds, including after attempting to escape, with prices negotiated between groups operating different sites.[8][40]
Deaths and escape attempts
Reporting on Cambodian scam compounds has included accounts of people attempting to escape by jumping from upper floors, sometimes resulting in serious injuries.[8][40] Human-rights reporting has also documented cases in which people died inside compounds, including a confirmed case involving a child, as well as deaths reported by witnesses and survivors.[61][40]
Escape, rescue and repatriation challenges
Security measures and threats of violence have made escape difficult, and rescues have often relied on law-enforcement raids and consular intervention. In March 2024, India said it had rescued and repatriated about 250 citizens from Cambodia who had been lured by job offers and forced to participate in cyber fraud schemes.[27] In February 2025, Thai and Cambodian police raided a building in Poipet and said they freed 215 foreign nationals from a scam centre, including nationals from Thailand, Pakistan, India, Taiwan, and Indonesia.[34]
Victim-identification problems have also been reported, including cases in which people removed from compounds were treated as immigration offenders rather than trafficking victims, limiting access to protection and assistance.[22] In March 2025, Thailand said it was studying construction of a wall along parts of its border with Cambodia after Thai authorities received nationals rescued from a Poipet compound.[35]
Documented abuses and official response
A 2025 Amnesty International investigation described patterns of forced labour, deprivation of liberty, torture and other ill-treatment, and other abuses in Cambodian scam compounds, and linked these patterns to trafficking into forced criminality.[61] The Cambodian government denied allegations of inaction and said it was addressing online scams through enforcement efforts.[40]
Selected locations frequently mentioned in reporting and official actions concerning scam centres in Cambodia
Scam centres in Cambodia have been documented across multiple towns and cities, including large enclosed compounds used to detain trafficking victims and run online fraud operations. An 18-month investigation published in 2025 identified at least 53 active scam centres and additional suspected sites, and described many compounds as operating in repurposed casinos and hotels.[62][40]
Locations have frequently overlapped with casino-linked developments and special economic zone environments. UNODC has linked scam-centre activity in Southeast Asia to casino and SEZ infrastructure and to trafficking for forced criminality.[22] Enforcement pressure has been associated with displacement into more remote and border areas, including Koh Kong and areas bordering Thailand and Vietnam.[36]
Frequently cited locations
The locations below are frequently mentioned in major coverage and official summaries and are not exhaustive.
Sihanoukville (Preah Sihanouk province) – Raids and deportations linked to online scam and illegal gambling investigations have repeatedly been reported in the Sihanoukville area.[28][22]
Bavet (Svay Rieng province) – UNODC has highlighted casino-linked development at the Cambodia–Vietnam border (including the Bavet–Mộc Bài casino zone) as part of the wider regional scam-compound ecosystem.[22]
Koh Kong (including the Botum Sakor area) – Border and coastal sites in Koh Kong province have been repeatedly referenced in discussion of scam-centre displacement and trafficking-linked operations.[36][40]
Ou Smach (Oddar Meanchey province) – U.S. sanctions action in 2024 designated O‑Smach Resort in connection with serious abuses linked to forced labour in online scam-centre operations, and described repeated rescue missions at the site.[30]
Phnom Penh – The same U.S. action also designated Cambodia-based Garden City Hotel and Phnom Penh Hotel in connection with the sanctioned network.[30]
Kampong Speu province – Cambodian police raided a housing complex in Kampong Speu province and detained around 1,000 foreign nationals amid allegations the site was linked to cyber-scam operations.[32]
Kandal and Stung Treng – The 2025 nationwide crackdown reported arrests in multiple provinces, including detentions reported in Kandal and Stung Treng.[41]
Financial flows and laundering
Scam centres in Cambodia have been described as scaling through a wider criminal service economy that connects fraud operations to cross-border payment collection, underground banking and money laundering. UNODC has linked scam-centre operations in Cambodia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia to casino-linked and special economic zone environments, human trafficking for forced criminality, and the laundering of proceeds into the formal economy. UNODC has also warned that crackdowns can displace operations into more remote and border areas within Cambodia, including Koh Kong and areas bordering Thailand and Vietnam.[63][36]
Collection, conversion and laundering pathways
Many Cambodia-linked scam operations use “investment” or “romance-investment” fraud models (including pig butchering scams) to induce targets to transfer funds via wire transfers or in cryptocurrency—often stablecoins—to accounts or wallet addresses controlled by the network. U.S. Treasury sanctions actions against Cambodia-linked actors described “confidence” scams in which victims were induced to invest in virtual currency or over-the-counter foreign exchange. FinCEN has described similar typologies in which victims purchase and transfer virtual currency to fraudulent investment platforms and scam-controlled addresses.[30][64]
Once collected, proceeds can be routed through multiple bank accounts and crypto wallets to obscure origin and enable cross-border movement and conversion. Documented methods include using intermediaries such as virtual asset service providers and informal or unlicensed money-transmission services associated with scam-centre ecosystems.[64][63]
Online marketplaces and enforcement actions
Cambodia-linked online marketplaces have been described as providing both “fraud infrastructure” (such as stolen data and scam tooling) and laundering services for scam networks. In July 2024, blockchain-analytics firm Elliptic reported that the Telegram-based “Huione Guarantee” marketplace offered money-laundering services, including cross-border fund movement and conversion to cash, stablecoins and Chinese payment apps. The same reporting described payments as being accepted primarily in the USDT stablecoin, and described the platform as providing escrow-like “guarantee” services between buyers and sellers.[65][66] In May 2025, Telegram blocked “Huione Guarantee” and “Xinbi Guarantee” channels after reporting linked them to cryptocurrency scams and money laundering.[67]
In May 2025, FinCEN identified Cambodia-based Huione Group as a financial institution of “primary money laundering concern” and described a network of affiliated businesses providing payment services (Huione Pay), virtual-asset services (Huione Crypto) and an online marketplace (Haowang Guarantee, previously Huione Guarantee) used by cyber-scam networks. FinCEN said Huione Group laundered at least US$4 billion in illicit proceeds between August 2021 and January 2025.[68] In October 2025, the United States and the United Kingdom announced coordinated actions targeting Cambodia-linked cyber-scam networks and money-laundering facilitators. The U.S. Treasury described the “Prince Group” network as laundering illicit revenues through offshore shell companies and using methods including large wire transfers and bulk cash smuggling. FinCEN issued a final rule intended to sever Huione Group from the U.S. financial system, effective 17 November 2025.[43][44][69]
Allegations of government complicity
Accusations of complicity from NGOs and international institutions
Despite several Cambodian police operations in 2022, many international observers believe the underground industry continues to thrive in Cambodia due to protection from powerful businesspeople connected to senior Cambodian officials.[70] In 2024, the U.S. State Department publicly accused the Cambodian government of systematic complicity with criminal networks tied to casinos and scam compounds.[6]Amnesty International echoed this accusation in its June 2025 report, stating that Cambodian scam centers benefit from official complicity.[71]
Links to relatives of Prime ministers Hun Sen and Hun Manet
A ProPublica investigation also revealed that one of the most notorious Cambodian scam compounds,at Jinbei in Sihanoukville, is located near the summer residence of Prime Minister Hun Manet.[8][72]Ly Yong Phat, former special economic adviser to former prime minister Hun Sen, was sanctioned by the United States in September 2024 for human rights abuses related to forced labor in online investment scams.[55][73] The Prince Group, a conglomerate whose main shareholder is Hun To, cousin of Prime Minister Hun Manet, has been accused of enabling its marketplace to be used for illegal transactions since 2021—estimated to total $24 billion. It is considered the world's largest illegal platform of its kind according to multiple investigations.[2][74]
Reactions
Media repression
Cambodian journalist Mech Dara, who investigated the Cambodian scam-center networks, announced in 2024 that he was quitting journalism after being arrested by Cambodian authorities during his investigation.[2][75] Several other Cambodian journalists who have reported on scam compounds also claim to have been targeted with retaliation and intimidation.[76]
From Thailand
The scam centers in Cambodia, as well as the ongoing 2025 Cambodian–Thai border crisis, caused the Thai media to occasionally referred to Cambodia as "Scambodia".[77][78][79] During the 2025 Cambodian–Thai conflict, Thai forces shelled scam centers in Cambodia.[80]
Sanctions
In October 2025, The US and UK sanctioned a multinational network based in south-east Asia accused of human trafficking and scams. 146 people were sanctioned including the head of the Prince Group, Chen Zhi.[4]
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Cambodia, specifically in Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh and Bavet municipality, among other areas
