Cambodia floats new law in crackdown on gangs running scam farms
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Cambodia faces heavy pressure from foreign governments and rights groups to show it is acting against scam compounds that have proliferated in the country.
PHOTO: REUTERS
PHNOM PENH – Cambodia is drafting a law targeting online scams, seeking to build a bulwark against criminals using the country as a base to siphon billions of dollars from victims globally.
The new law “will develop an important and clearer legal framework to enhance the effectiveness in the prevention, suppression and crackdown of online scams”, Information Minister Neth Pheaktra told Bloomberg News.
The ministry did not disclose the specific provisions of the draft law, or whether it would explicitly outline mechanisms for international cooperation.
While Cambodia has broad rules that address cybercrime, there is not yet a comprehensive set of laws to address crimes related to scams.
Lawmakers have been discussing a separate draft cybercrime law for around a decade, but it has drawn criticism from rights groups and activists who argue that it could be used as a tool to suppress free speech.
It comes as Cambodia faces heavy pressure from foreign governments and rights groups to show it is taking action against scam compounds
Syndicates, many with links across South-east Asia and China, carry out online investment fraud, romance scams and illegal gambling operations targeting victims all over the world.
A US Institute of Peace report estimated that transnational criminal networks running illegal online gambling and scam operations worldwide stole at least US$64 billion (S$80.7 billion) in 2023 alone.
The United Nations has also warned that scam centres in South-east Asia have become a multibillion-dollar industry fuelled in part by human trafficking, with thousands of workers coerced
Enforcement efforts in Cambodia have escalated in recent weeks.
The authorities say they have conducted at least 190 raids on suspected compounds and deported more than 9,000 foreign nationals since the start of 2026.
Those actions include the arrest and extradition in January of alleged kingpin Chen Zhi
“Cambodia is not a safe haven for online criminals to carry out scams or cross-border crimes,” said Mr Neth Pheaktra. “Any individuals or entities behind these scam operations will face the harshest penalties under the law, without leniency or interference.”
Still, activists and analysts who study transnational crime have cast doubt on whether the latest crackdown will eradicate the scam centres.
Rather, they warn that the gangs running them are quick to adapt, including the types of scams they run and their locations.
It is also a very lucrative business for them to want to keep operating, and at relatively low cost.
Tracking cyberactivity across countries and through cryptocurrency networks is also complex.
What is classed as a cybercrime in one country may not be in another, according to Interpol’s Mr Neal Jetton, who leads the cybercrime directorate in Singapore.
In general, there is not much harmonisation of legislation.
Some countries in South-east Asia set up cyberunits only a few years ago. And information sharing between countries and agencies is a challenge, be it on cybercrimes, curbing human trafficking or tracking illicit funds.
That is especially the case given the recent flare-ups in border fighting between Cambodia and Thailand.
A stronger legal framework around cybercrime could help at least to disrupt scam centres, according to Professor Andreas Schloenhardt, a criminal law expert at the University of Vienna.
“In the medium and long-term, the offences and other measures under the new United Nations Convention against Cybercrime can be used to investigate and prosecute cyberscams and the corporations and corruption that facilitates them,” he said.
“The UN Cybercrime Convention was adopted in 2025 and will likely enter into force in 2027 or 2028, when a sufficient number of states have ratified it.”
The Cambodian legislation has been drafted in alignment with the United Nations convention, to which the country is a signatory, Mr Neth Pheaktra said.
The Justice Ministry will seek technical input from relevant government agencies before the Bill is submitted to the National Assembly for approval.
BLOOMBERG
