PHNOM PENH: After only four months in Cambodia, Chen Xian Jin reckons he can spot a scam manager when he sees one. Unlike other Chinese businessmen, they avoid flashy cars and jewelry and keep a low profile.
They come, at dusk, to the food stall Chen runs with his brother in Phnom Penh. Chen also runs deliveries, and despite the recent scam centre crackdowns, he’s still sending plastic bags of pork and rice to his regular customers in the high building at the end of the street where the lights stay on at night.
Another vendor who sells young coconuts from a cart nearby said his takings fell after there were raids in the area but already things are picking back up.
Turns out, stopping scammers is tricky business.
All over Phnom Penh, now awash with KTV lounges and Chinese eateries, evidence of the ferocious clampdown on the scam centres that have become synonymous with Cambodia and its neighbour, Myanmar, is apparent.
Buildings emptied or reduced to rubble, workers clutching meagre bags of belongings wandering the streets after their Chinese bosses unlocked the gates and abruptly told them to get out.
They gather in groups outside their embassies, on the grass near the Mekong River during early evening and when night falls, in the cheap back street cafes and bars of Phnom Penh.
Cambodia's government is facing intense pressure to act, from its economic ally China, from the US and from countries like South Korea, which are tired of their citizens unwittingly handing over billions of dollars each year having been lured by the promise of romance, a path out of loneliness or a way to get rich quick.
Simmering tensions with Thailand, which has bombed what it said were scam sites just over the border inside Cambodia, have added to the squeeze.
Yet when Bloomberg News visited and talked with escapees, with the vendors who make money providing services to scam farms, and with officials and activists monitoring Cambodia’s actions, most conversations suggested these operations are simply too lucrative - including for powerful interests inside the country - to be stamped out.
"I have informants inside telling me they’ve been moved to hotels and the boss told them it’s just for the police check,” said Ling Li, who researches scam farms and co-authored Scam: Inside Southeast Asia’s Cybercrime Compounds. "We can see scammers working on the streets. They're just waiting for their time to go back. It's not a real crackdown unfortunately.”
Cambodia’s government has a lot of reasons to show it’s doing something. Beijing is visibly angry.
Ambassador Wang Wenbin warned Cambodian officials in a meeting that scam centres pose a "serious obstacle” to deepening mutually beneficial cooperation. China insisted Cambodia hand over Chen Zhi, the suspected scam kingpin and billionaire founder of conglomerate Prince Holding Group.
The US in late October gave Cambodia 90 days to act on scam centres as part of a deal for lower tariffs. And it was US financial legwork, alongside Singapore and the UK, that helped lead to Chen Zhi’s downfall.
Cambodia’s crackdown is also part of a broader regional shift: across South-East Asia, cybercrime is being treated as a national-security threat.
In Myanmar, that pressure intensified in 2024, with China pushing all sides of the civil war to dismantle scam networks targetting Chinese citizens.
Ethnic armed groups repatriated thousands of foreign workers, the junta won deeper Chinese backing after pledging action and Beijing escalated with harsh penalties, including recent executions of Kokang-linked figures - individuals allegedly connected to crime networks along the Chinese border.
Regional politics are also being reshaped by it. Analysts say China’s insistence on joint enforcement has expanded its security footprint across the Mekong.
Along the Thai-Cambodia border, Bangkok has cited scam compounds to justify strikes on casino complexes allegedly tied to fraud; Phnom Penh calls it a pretext for force.
In Thailand’s Feb. 8 election, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul declared "war on scammers” and rode a wave of border nationalism to snare a decisive win.
When the police swung into action in Cambodia, apartment and office buildings long known to harbour scam centres - including on main roads or near government buildings in the capital - were raided.
Some scam bosses saw what was coming and scarpered, including to Malaysia to lay low, according to those familiar with the matter. Hun Sen, prime minister for nearly 40 years and still a key power figure, delivered a blistering warning that Cambodia would be a punishing place for lawbreakers, not a refuge.
While some Cambodian officials say the country is experiencing a reduction in scam activity, others admit the impact is difficult to gauge.
The government has implemented sweeping measures it expects will progressively eradicate scams, in addition to raids, including tightening coordination between agencies, stepping up engagement with foreign partners and putting forward fresh legislation to build a bulwark against criminals.
According to the government, from the start of January to early February there were raids at 190 locations across the country, including 44 casinos. More than 2,500 people were detained, and large numbers of computers and mobile phones were seized.
Over in Myanmar, the government touted raids of its own, including one last month it said netted 330 Chinese nationals and one earlier this week during which almost 400 foreign nationals, including nearly 300 Chinese, were arrested.
"Some countries point to Cambodia” as the problem, the nation’s Information Minister Neth Pheaktra said in an interview. "We need to get back our reputation. Tourism, nature reserves, that's the reputation we want for our country. Not scams."
But talk to long-term observers of scam centres and they liken it to the Hydra water serpent of Greek mythology - when you cut off one head, two magically appear. As the bigger centres dissipate or go quiet for a period, smaller ones in rural areas crop up, said Ou Virak, president of the Phnom Penh-based think tank Future Forum.
At its core, scamming is a relatively cheap, proven business model. AI will make it even more cost-effective. Like other transnational criminal activities, scams can rapidly shape-shift. A lack of trust in coordination and information sharing adds to the challenge.
Stephanie Baroud, a criminal intelligence analyst with the human trafficking and migrant smuggling unit at Interpol in Lyon, France, says many workers shunted out of one scam operation are likely to be re-trafficked straight into another.
"They’re left stranded, so the risk of re-trafficking into another compound is high for those who don’t know what to do or where to go.” Others face hefty fines from the government for overstaying their visas, making it harder to leave and start another job elsewhere, she said.
The salaries in scam centres play a part too. Some workers said they could get as much as US$1,500 a month, an attractive income versus many other jobs in Cambodia or back in their home countries like India, Indonesia or China.
And scam farms are an incredibly lucrative business. Hard numbers are difficult to come by because a lot of people don’t like to admit they were scammed or don’t know where or how to report it.
A US Institute of Peace report, however, puts a conservative estimate for end-2023 of the annual value of funds stolen worldwide by transnational criminal networks operating illegal online gambling and scam operations at around US$64 billion. According to the Global Anti-Scam Alliance 2025 report, some US$442 billion was lost globally to scams of all forms over 12 months.
A chunk of that comes from people in the US, which helps explain why the Trump administration tied a crackdown to a lower tariff rate for Cambodia. A former US diplomat met with current Prime Minister Hun Manet (Hun Sen’s son) in early December and conveyed that scams were a top concern for the world’s No. 1 economy, according to people familiar with the conversation.
There was also talk around how Cambodia was under pressure to develop an action plan and show Washington that it’s committed to making progress within the 90-day deadline, they added. Representatives from the Prime Minister’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The US also set up a Scam Centre Strike Force in late 2025 with the US Attorney’s Office, FBI, Secret Service and Department of Justice; it has a team chasing down cryptocurrency.
Still, government officials and senior law enforcement figures say coordination remains suboptimal, particularly with Cambodia and Myanmar. The border fighting between Cambodia and Thailand has added to distrust around information sharing.
"Do we have better engagement with some countries than others? Yes, that's obvious,” said Neal Jetton who oversees the Cybercrime Directorate at Interpol in Singapore. "Even within Interpol, I won’t say it’s a perfect situation. Everybody’s a little territorial.”
Hun Manet complained to the former US diplomat that cross-border collaboration was difficult, especially with Thailand, and accused unnamed scammers of trying to disrupt trade talks with the US, one person familiar with their meeting said. The Cambodian Prime Minister likened efforts to curb scam farms to a game of "whack-a-mole.”
The deputy commissioner of Thailand's Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, Police Major-General Wiwat Kamchamnan, described Cambodia’s enforcement actions so far as mostly symbolic. The industry, he said, is very adaptable and moving locations, including further from the Thai border and to smaller sites.
Activists point to the chaos from the latest crackdown, where thousands of people poured out of scam centres in quick succession. There’s a high chance bosses slipped into the crowds and will set up new operations once the dust settles.
The queue outside the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh might be smaller than a few weeks ago, when footage showed people lined up around the block, but on a recent humid weekday morning, dozens were still there seeking new papers.
Most didn’t want to speak. Those who did denied they’d been involved in scam centres; they’d come to Cambodia for holidays, gotten drunk and lost their passports. Security guards shooed reporters away.
Many Chinese workers turfed out of scam farms are now being housed in the cargo area of the city’s old, shuttered airport. Scores of men, many shirtless, could be seen through the fence milling around or sitting in small groups.
Some stood against the main gate, waiting for food deliveries that arrived via motorbike. Several minibuses with dark windows came and went. Inside the airport were signs of police guards - washing hanging on lines, black boots strewn near a doorway.
Other groups of Chinese men sat on the footpath outside the airport, some smoking, others having loud and seemingly heated conversations. One man chatted briefly - he said he had his passport but his friends inside did not.
"Cambodians don’t like Chinese people anymore,” he quipped. A sign further along the road wishes travelers a happy journey.
The wild variety of scams and the increasing use of cryptocurrency also make stopping them in their tracks hard.
One man from Pakistan described a complex scam he called Four Rooms that involved recruiting people to ostensibly boost the online visibility of products. He was in room three, where targets were given details of the work.
Room four was where they were passed to Chinese managers, he said, and claimed he didn’t know what happened from there. If he failed to secure enough referrals, he wouldn’t get all his pay.
"The thing is, criminals move quickly,” Interpol’s Jetton said. "They’ll put cryptocurrency in one main wallet and then onto hundreds or even thousands of different wallets. Not only that, they obfuscate by going through multiple bridges and using different chains. They also use mixers and exchanges to try to fool law enforcement.”
For companies, the Chen Zhi episode reinforces how complex the compliance landscape has become, alongside President Donald Trump’s sudden shifts in sanctions and tariff regimes.
The US and others allege Chen Zhi operated under the veneer of legitimate businesses for years. Prince formed partnerships with multinational companies to develop and operate hotels at a development called the Bay of Lights near the south-western coastal city of Sihanoukville. Chen Zhi and the Prince group of companies deny they were involved in any criminal activity.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime in recent months released a pair of reports on minimising the risk of criminal exposure to scam compounds in supply chains - one a guide for real estate investors, developers and construction contractors, the other for suppliers and partners.
Private sector companies may be unaware their activities are benefiting criminal operations, one of the reports said. Still, "scam compound hubs frequently follow the same development trajectory, meaning potential partners can feasibly identify warning signs to distance themselves accordingly.”
Having clear oversight of supply chains is vital for companies in the region, according to Weiyi Tan, co-head of the APAC Regulatory & Investigations Group at law firm Clyde & Co.
Companies must take proactive steps to protect themselves, she said. "This includes conducting adequate due diligence on suppliers and other counterparties, putting in place the appropriate contractual protections, and considering external legal and risk advice.”
The US Institute of Peace report notes scam networks often gain access to regional government and business elites. Their activity can hide behind a "veneer of apparent legitimacy,” such as casinos, resorts and special economic zones.
In Cambodia, activists say that scams also benefit property owners. Landlords can charge high rents to gangs who take over entire floors of apartment buildings. Scam centres aren’t always hidden in forested areas away from the main cities.
The driveway to the Commerce Ministry in Phnom Penh is a case in point. It leads past a squat blue building where lower floors have mesh grills covering the walkways. Tall fences are ringed with barbed wire.
It looks faintly like a school, and in fact that’s what guards at a nearby bank thought it was when young people started showing up a few years ago.
But they quickly realised it was something else - lights were kept on at night and people came and went in shifts.
A nearby motorcycle taxi driver said he ferried people back and forth to a budget hotel he pointed to up the road. A few hundred people weren’t allowed to leave at all, he said, and there was a kitchen inside.
According to Cyber Scam Monitor, which identifies sites across South-East Asia, the building is owned by a Chinese businessman who became a Cambodian citizen.
When the scam centres are centrally located, whole ecosystems spring up around them - vendors, delivery drivers, cleaners. Activists say the border tensions have even seen young Cambodians return from jobs in Thailand and they too risk getting pulled into scam centres.
"What we fear now is that it’s not only foreigners coming here to do scam work, Cambodians are being victimised too,” Information Minister Pheaktra said.
Back at Chen Xian Jin’s food stall, locals have begun to call the high building at the end of the street Diamond on the Sky. Although the lower floors have been blocked off, the upper windows are open, and people can be seen at all hours moving around desks and shuffling the curtains. Chen, 25, isn’t bothered. It’s just life, he shrugs.
The 27-year-old Pakistani worker from the Four Rooms scam is similarly unfussed. The job wasn’t so bad, even if his pay was sometimes cut and he had to hand over his passport.
He could listen to music as he worked and watch movies in quiet periods. He still likes Cambodia, even knowing what the work was - fleecing people. Now that his scam centre has closed, he said he’ll leave, but "maybe I come back.” - Bloomberg
