The Prime Minister of Cambodia ordered the acceleration of the campaign to fight against online scam centers, while the police arrested more than 210 foreigners suspected of scams in the capital Phnom Penh and in Sihanoukville.
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Hun Manet called on political leaders and the police to “eradicate all fraud activities on the Internet” in their jurisdiction, in a directive dated July 14, published on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday.
Those who fail risk losing their post, he assured.
At the same time, the authorities arrested 149 Vietnamese, three Chinese and 85 Cambodians during descents targeting two buildings in the center of Phnom Penh, Monday and Tuesday.
An operation targeting four sites in the Sihanoukville port city (South) led Tuesday to the arrest of 63 Vietnamese and to the seizure of 54 computers, according to a police report consulted by AFP.
Farms with digital scams have swarmed in Southeast Asia in recent years, generating tens of billions of dollars in revenue per year for international criminal networks.
Amnesty International has identified more than 50 centers in Cambodia, in a report published in June. The NGO has accused the Khmer government of looking at human rights damage including slavery, trafficking in human beings, children’s work and torture.
Cambodia expelled Thai in March 119 arrested during an operation in the border city of Piped.
Since 2022, the authorities have expelled more than 20,000 foreign nationals, and more than 200 people have been brought to justice in this repression, according to government data.
