Cambodia presents anti-scam campaign as summit scrutiny grows

Cambodia is due to present the results of its campaign against scam operations at an international summit in Phnom Penh this week, according to the South China Morning Post. Governments and security agencies are gathering in the capital as Cambodian authorities seek to highlight the outcome of their crackdown. The meeting is taking place amid scepticism over the campaign and unresolved questions about the scale of the problem.

Those questions include where billions of dollars connected to the scams have gone and what role, if any, the country’s elite played. The report says Cambodia’s elite denied for many years that the problem existed on Cambodian soil. Scam compounds expanded into declining mega-casinos during the Covid-19 pandemic, when border closures reduced the flow of gamblers.

According to the report, gamblers were replaced by scam workers, some of whom were tricked, trafficked and forced to carry out criminal activity. The supplied material does not give figures for the crackdown, identify specific compounds or detail the governments and agencies attending the summit. It also does not provide Cambodia’s response to the questions surrounding the industry or the missing funds.