In one of the latest major raids of the current anti-scam campaign, the authorities have arrested 81 foreigners in Phnom Penh.
According to a report by the Secretariat of the Commission for Combating Technology Crimes (CCTC), the 81 detained include 72 Chinese and nine Burmese nationals. The authorities also seized 480 phones, dozens of computers and 12 wigs.
According to a forensic report, the suspects were committing technology scams, specifically “romance scams”. The authorities are conducting further investigations to determine the ringleaders behind the operations.
The CCTC noted that over the past eight months, the authorities have dismantled more than 200 online scam networks, including several which were operating in casinos. It claimed that the latest round of crackdowns led to a total of 223,610 foreign nationals voluntarily leaving Cambodia for their home countries between Jan 13 and Feb 26. They include Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals.
“Several members of the leadership of these operations have escaped from the authorities, with some leaving Cambodia for other countries to continue their scamming activities, and others hiding in the country, changing their methods to small groups to operate covertly in various rented houses, and some in a mobile format,” a CCTC report said.
It added that authorities in the capital and 24 provinces are intensifying their efforts to suppress illicit activities and will not allow any shelter for illegal acts, whether small or large networks, in strict accordance with the orders of the government.
“We must continue to investigate all transnational crime to its roots to control and eradicate it from Cambodia,” said Chhay Sinarith, Senior Minister in Charge of Special Missions and CCTC chairman, in the report.
“Currently, Cambodian authorities are investigating over 100 technology scam cases and specialised forces are focusing on investigating the financial flow and personal assets related to online scam criminal networks,” he added. — The Phnom Penh Post/ANN
