Cambodia claims victory on scams

Prime Minister Hun Manet said Wednesday Cambodia had completely dismantled all large-scale scam compounds in the kingdom without providing significant new evidence of the claim.

“we have completely dismantled all large-scale scam compounds in the kingdom”

The conference and the tour

Cambodia hosted a two-day conference with the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime and Interpol on tackling cyberscams. It took reporters to empty scam compounds Tuesday to showcase closure efforts.

Experts say more work remains

Mark Taylor, an anti-trafficking consultant and former head of an anti-trafficking program in Cambodia, said the government closed most large compounds but did little to dismantle criminal organizations or punish elites who profited.

“The Cambodian government has indeed closed most of the large compounds, but it has done comparably little to dismantle the criminal organizations”

U.S. lawmakers push for sanctions

U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is one of two congressional leaders calling for sanctions on key Cambodian political figures, including deputy prime minister Neth Savoeun, over alleged scam center links.

The scale of the problem

Cyberscam operations grew especially during the COVID-nineteen pandemic. Victims lost between eighty-eight point three billion and one hundred fourteen point one billion dollars in twenty twenty-five, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said in July.