Closing an online scam center stops criminal activity, but it does not dismantle the network behind it.
The people directing the operation may be in another country, while the money can move across borders through bank accounts or digital payment systems. If we want to eliminate online scams rather than simply force them to move elsewhere, we have to follow the money. That is the next phase of Cambodia’s campaign.
Combating online scams is a national priority for Cambodia. Our goal is not just to close sites but to pursue the criminal masterminds and financial networks behind them.
Our campaign is delivering tangible results. Over the last 12 months, Cambodian authorities investigated 832 suspected locations and carried out crackdowns at 663. Eighty-six scam compounds have been dismantled and brought under control pending legal seizure.
Authorities have forwarded 446 cases to court involving 3,927 accused from 29 nationalities, including ringleaders and accomplices. Regulators have also taken action against 27 casinos linked to online scams, revoking 18 licenses and suspending nine.
Recent arrests of high-profile businesspeople and senior officials show that the campaign is reaching beyond low-level offenders. Cambodia’s Anti-Corruption Unit has also acted in four cases involving 15 senior officials and law-enforcement officers suspected of involvement. No one is above the law.
The next step is to make these gains permanent by ensuring that closed operations remain closed and criminal networks cannot simply reappear elsewhere. We are already seeing those networks change tactics, moving away from large compounds toward smaller, decentralized operations. That makes it even more important to pursue the people and financial networks behind them rather than focusing only on physical sites.
In April, Cambodia strengthened its legal framework with the Law on Combating Online Scams. The law gives authorities stronger tools to pursue those who organize or support these crimes and to trace and seize criminal proceeds.
Financial institutions and other regulated businesses must report suspicious transactions to the Cambodia Financial Intelligence Unit, which shares relevant intelligence with investigators. This helps authorities trace criminal proceeds and identify the people behind scam operations.
Cambodian authorities have already frozen more than $300 million in bank accounts linked to online scams, with additional assets undergoing freezing procedures and assessment. But once the money crosses a border, international cooperation becomes essential.
A victim of an online scam may be in London or Los Angeles while the people running the scam are thousands of miles away. Criminal proceeds can pass through several jurisdictions before reaching those who ultimately control the operation. No police force can follow that chain alone.
In July, the United Kingdom assumed the presidency of the Financial Action Task Force, which sets global standards against money laundering and terrorist financing. Under the UK’s leadership, FATF has made combating fraud a priority, including the financial flows linked to scam compounds. It is focused on strengthening financial intelligence and international information sharing.
Cambodia supports that approach. We continue to work with international law-enforcement partners and through the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering. In July, FBI Director Kash Patel visited Cambodia to discuss scam operations targeting Americans and to strengthen cooperation between US and Cambodian law enforcement.
Cooperation against transnational crime should cut across geopolitical divisions. The same networks target people in the United States and China, among many other countries.
International cooperation will be a focus of the International Conference on Combating Online Scams (ICCOS 2026), which Cambodia is hosting in Phnom Penh on September 23 and 24. Participants include representatives from China, the UK, and the United States, including the FBI, alongside governments from across Asia and international organizations such as Interpol.
The theme is “Acting Together towards Breaking the Chain and Eradication of Online Scams.” The challenge is to turn international cooperation into operational cooperation. Financial intelligence must move quickly across borders to identify criminal proceeds before they are moved beyond investigators’ reach. Countries also need to be able to freeze and recover criminal proceeds more effectively.
There is also a human cost to consider. Many people found inside scam operations have themselves been trafficked or coerced, while victims around the world have lost their savings to these crimes. Protecting those who have been exploited also requires cross-border cooperation. Following the money helps us pursue those who profit from both trafficking and fraud.
Cambodia will continue to disrupt scam operations and prosecute those responsible. We will work to ensure that closed operations cannot simply reopen elsewhere. But these are transnational criminal networks, and lasting success requires international action.
Cambodia is doing its part. In Phnom Penh later this September, we will work with our international partners to dismantle the financial networks behind these scams and cut off the profits that keep this global criminal industry alive.
Chhay Sinarith is a Senior Minister in the Cambodian Government and the Vice-Chairman of the Commission for Combating Online Scams. He is leading Cambodia’s nationwide campaign to dismantle online scam networks and implement the country’s new Law on Combating Online Scams.
