Cambodia’s claim to have ended scam compounds met with scepticism

By Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters. Published On 28 Aug 202628 Aug 2026.

Key points

• While 3, 477 suspects from 29 nationalities were arrested and jailed pending trial, he continued, authorities rescued and deported 58, 266 foreign nationals.
• The compounds, largely run by Chinese criminal syndicates, have proliferated throughout Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and Myanmar-Thai border areas since the pandemic.
• According to a statement published on Friday, Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith.
• Mark Taylor, an independent anti-trafficking consultant, remarked: The robust confidence placed in the government's assertion that all scamming operations in Cambodia have been eradicated is severely misplaced.
• "There are credible indicators that significant scamming operations continue and that recruitment of foreign workers into Cambodia for scamming work continues."

As rights groups and analysts cautioned that the claim cannot be independently verified, cambodia notes it no longer hosts any of the scam compounds that produced the country a global hub for cybercrime.

According to a statement published on Friday, Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith. This person heads the government's ad hoc Commission for Combating Online Scams, informed 50 foreign diplomats and international authorities on Thursday that "large-scale scam activities have been brought fully under control, and there are currently no online scam compounds remaining in the country".

For context, the statement remarked the achievement follows "the complete eradication of large-scale online scam operations, strict legal actions against perpetrators, networks and involved officials, alongside the systematic establishment of a cybersecurity legal framework".

Nevertheless, the statement acknowledged that criminal groups have shifted to decentralised operations – hiding in guesthouses, condominiums, rental houses, vehicles and coffee shops – which authorities stated they will continue to target.

In practice, the compounds, largely run by Chinese criminal syndicates, have proliferated throughout Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and Myanmar-Thai border areas since the pandemic. Reuters news agency remarked it has not independently confirmed the eradication claim.

Amnesty International's co-regional director, Montse Ferrer, remarked the rights group is "highly skeptical of suggestions the scamming compound industry has been effectively eliminated", adding: "The true test of long-term success is not how many compounds have closed, but whether the actors responsible have been investigated, prosecuted and prevented from resuming operations."

Chhay Sinarith, the senior minister, remarked law enforcement investigated 793 suspected locations and raided 624 sites between July 2025 and August 20, 2026, detaining almost 30, 000 suspects representing 39 nationalities.

In short, cambodia's claim to have ended scam compounds met with scepticism is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.