Cambodia not safe haven for cyberscams, PM says

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet told an anti-fraud summit Wednesday that Cambodia would never be a safe haven for cyberscams, while international officials praised cooperation but warned that criminal networks remain a major threat.

Hun Manet told the Phnom Penh conference that Cambodian authorities had “completely dismantled all light-scale scam compounds” in a crackdown launched last year. He denied that the campaign was a public relations effort and said it aimed to eradicate criminal networks and stop them from returning.

Southeast Asia, especially Cambodia and Myanmar, has become a hub for crime syndicates running scam centres. Some people in the compounds work willingly, while others are trafficked. The schemes include fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investment fraud.

Delphine Schantz, regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, welcomed Cambodia's efforts but said more action was needed nationally, regionally and internationally. Chinese vice minister of public security Yang Weilin said the breeding ground for telecom fraud had not been fully rooted out.

The United States estimates that cyber-enabled scams run by transnational criminal groups in Southeast Asia defrauded Americans of at least $18.2 billion in 2025.

Researchers say scammers have moved to smaller and lower-profile locations, and that some centres received advance warning of raids. Analysts say elite protection networks and the industry's financial and physical infrastructure remain intact, raising concern that operators could regroup.