Cambodia says it has closed more than 700 scam compounds in year-long crackdown
Cambodia says it has closed more than 700 online scam centres over the past year, detained nearly 30,000 suspects and deported more than 58,000 foreign nationals in a sweeping campaign that underscores how deeply the country has become entangled in Southeast Asia’s cybercrime economy. The government’s account, released on 2026-08-28, describes a crackdown that has moved well beyond isolated police raids and into an effort to dismantle a sprawling network of fraud compounds, trafficked labour and organised criminal groups.
The scale described by Phnom Penh is striking. The government said authorities cleared more than 700 compounds and arrested nearly 30,000 suspects, including 15 high-ranking officials and law-enforcement officers. It also said more than 3,400 suspects from 29 countries remained in custody awaiting trial. Those figures indicate that the crackdown has pulled in both local officials and foreign nationals, reflecting the international reach of the industry.
The Cambodian statement also suggests the criminal model has adapted under pressure. Officials said large sites had largely been cleared, but that groups were shifting to smaller operations hidden inside guesthouses, condominiums, rental houses, vehicles and coffee shops. That warning matters because it implies the problem has not been eliminated, only dispersed. A high-volume enforcement campaign can close compounds and still leave the underlying networks in place unless law enforcement can follow the money, identify recruiters and disrupt the logistics that keep the scams running.
Cambodia’s role in the regional scam economy has drawn scrutiny for years. The country has been described as a hub for romance scams and cryptocurrency fraud schemes that target internet users around the world. Under pressure from countries including the United States and China, Cambodian authorities have said they are trying to shut the industry down. The latest statement is the clearest indication yet that the government wants to present the campaign as a major national security and law-enforcement effort, not merely a public-order operation.
The broader regional context also helps explain why Cambodia’s claims are drawing attention. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has estimated that scam centres across Asia generate tens of billions of dollars a year in profits. That money helps sustain the compounds, while the mix of trafficked workers, willing participants and criminal syndicates makes the business difficult to police. Cambodia says it is now hitting the physical infrastructure and the personnel around it. The remaining question is whether the shift to smaller, harder-to-detect sites will prove easier to contain than the large compounds that have already been exposed.
