PHNOM PENH: Cambodian citizens have lost an estimated US$26.2 million to online scam groups since 2025, showing that the country is not only home to scam operations targeting foreigners but also has a growing number of local victims, noted National Police Commissioner Sar Theth.
Speaking at the International Conference on Combating Online Scams (ICCOS) on September 24, Theth said police received 1,136 complaints from Cambodian citizens in 2025 involving losses of about US$4.7 million to online scams.
Of last year’s complaints, just 51 had been resolved, he warned.
During the first eight months of this year, 1,084 complaints involving about US$21.5 million in losses were received, of which just 42 had been resolved, according to Theth.
He did not share details of how the complainants were defrauded, nor whether the perpetrators were themselves Cambodian or foreign nationals.
Theth highlighted how the rapid development of technology and telecommunications systems used by criminal groups, as well as difficulties related to tracking the movement of illicit funds, made recovering stolen monies a complex process.
Public awareness of the risks also remains low, he added.
In addition, he claimed that authorities have mostly been able to arrest only lower-level perpetrators and operators, as the leadership of major scam operations remains abroad.
This made it difficult to dismantle the criminal networks at their roots, Theth warned.
He added that authorities had also faced difficulties identifying some detained suspects as their documents had expired, delaying repatriation or deportation procedures and leaving Cambodia to cover related expenses.
Theth called for greater cooperation among countries and international institutions to “break the chain and combat these borderless crimes”. - Phnom Penh Post/ANN
