Scam centres: Cambodia has shut the big compounds, Amnesty wants it to go further
At the end of August, Phnom Penh announced that no large-scale online scam compound remained on its soil. On 29 October, Amnesty International pointed to security firms linked to the army and the police. The timing raises questions: the border conflict with Thailand is unresolved and the economy is slowing. Some of the accusations also remain unproven. In the press, the horror of the compounds makes the headlines, while cooperation with the FBI and the new law are pushed into the background. Yet no one can judge without seeing both.
Scam centres: the official record of the crackdown
The campaign launched in July 2025 by Prime Minister Hun Manet is the largest ever waged in Cambodia against online fraud. Between July 2025 and 20 August 2026, law enforcement inspected 793 suspected sites and raided 624 of them. Those are the figures of the Ad Hoc Commission for Combating Online Scams (CCOS).
Nearly 30,000 suspects of 39 nationalities were arrested, including senior officials and police officers. More than 58,000 foreigners were deported.
On the judicial side, more than 300 Cambodians are in pre-trial detention, in 268 cases sent to the courts. The authorities are seeking 855 other suspects under arrest warrants. In March, lawmakers unanimously passed a law against online scams, with sentences of up to life in prison.
The most symbolic case remains that of Chen Zhi. The founder of Prince Group, sanctioned by Washington and London in October 2025, was arrested on 6 January 2026 and then extradited to China. In late September, Phnom Penh hosted an international conference on fighting online scams.
The authorities are not claiming victory. They acknowledge that the networks are moving to more discreet places: rented houses, condominiums, guesthouses, vehicles.
Cooperation with the FBI: a partnership praised
The campaign relies on close cooperation with the US federal police. In February 2026, a senior official from the FBI's international operations came to Phnom Penh to prepare closer ties.
In June, FBI Co-Deputy Director Andrew Bailey praised “unprecedented” access to raided sites. The Cambodian commission granted that access to the FBI office in Phnom Penh, and the evidence gathered was described as remarkable.
In July, FBI Director Kash Patel was received by Hun Manet. He thanked the government for its partnership.
Washington does not stop at praise. The US Embassy is also calling for the top network bosses to stand trial, and for better sharing of information on complicit officials.
Amnesty report: security firms in the spotlight
The report Official Business, published on 29 October, looks at a little-documented link in the chain: the guards. Amnesty interviewed 151 survivors between January 2023 and September 2026. The NGO also reviewed the records of more than 400 other victims.
Its researchers visited 82 of the 86 compounds identified and found guards at every one. The investigation also draws on videos posted by more than 200 TikTok accounts belonging to guards, geolocated to 23 compounds.
Five private security firms are implicated. The most widespread is linked to at least 15 compounds in eight provinces. Another, close to a major Cambodian financial group, allegedly guarded five sites, while the other three operated in Botum Sakor, Sihanoukville and Bavet.
Amnesty links more than 20 soldiers and police officers to these firms, and to at least 22 compounds. It singles out three senior officers: an army colonel, a deputy police chief and a brigadier general. As none of them has been charged to date, Cambodge Mag is publishing neither their names nor those of the firms.
The press release also mentions, without naming them, business ties to a former bank CEO, a property developer and the son of a former deputy prime minister.
The NGO acknowledges one important point: the large compounds now appear dormant. Its criticism is about what comes next, since it knows of no investigation into the five firms. For its Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, “the infrastructure of impunity has not been dismantled.”
Denials and accusations still to be proven
Several accusations have yet to be established. Amnesty itself says it makes no finding on the personal responsibility of the figures it mentions. Before publication, the NGO wrote to every firm and person named, and it publishes their replies.
The colonel named denies any role as owner or manager of the firm associated with him. He describes himself as a mere adviser. Another firm rejects all the allegations.
The firm linked to the police officer acknowledges that his number appeared on one of its signs. It denies that he controls the company, and is considering legal action if its uniforms were stolen.
The government responded on 15 October: 77 police officers have been disciplined over matters linked to the compounds. In June, responding to Amnesty's previous report, Chhay Sinarith, the minister in charge of fighting scams, called it “selective, one-sided”.
Timing that raises questions
The report comes at a delicate moment. Fighting with Thailand resumed in July 2026, and Cambodia closed all its land border crossings.
The economy is paying the price. In September, the Asian Development Bank cut its 2026 growth forecast to 3.9%. It cited the tourism slump, the border closure and concerns linked to the scam industry.
In August, the Cambodian government also listed the lingering impact of online scams among the causes of the slowdown. The country's image has a very real cost.
Amnesty presented its report on 29 October at a press conference in Bangkok. The NGO has been publishing on this issue since June 2025 and has denied any coordination with the Thai government.
Thailand, an interested messenger
Bangkok is quick to relay these accusations. Since 2025, Thailand has used scam centres as an argument in its conflict with Cambodia. Its army has presented several strikes as a war on fraudsters.
In February 2026, the Thai army took international media and the FBI to scam sites in O'Smach, on the Cambodian side of the border. Another press visit followed in March, organised with Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Phnom Penh saw it as a breach of its sovereignty.
The US think tank CSIS notes that Thai media and social networks have nicknamed the country “Scambodia”. According to its analysis, this narrative helps Bangkok justify its strikes to international opinion and increase pressure on Phnom Penh.
The Cambodian government has denounced a smear campaign since 2025. Its spokesman, Pen Bona, accused Bangkok at the time of blaming Cambodia for a problem Thailand also has. Information Minister Neth Pheaktra accused his neighbour of justifying a de facto annexation under the guise of fighting scams.
One question remains: who benefits from the image of a Cambodia riddled with fraud? At this stage, no evidence proves the existence of an organised lobby.
Headlines that prefer shock
In the press, the tone sometimes goes further than the reports. Amnesty describes firms linked to military, police and business figures. Yet the website Asia Financial ran a headline about a “regime” deeply involved.
That headline picks up a phrase Agnès Callamard used at a press conference. It is not a written conclusion of the report.
Headlines focus on the horror of the compounds, which sells better than police cooperation. The partnership with the FBI and the new law carry little weight in coverage of Amnesty's reports. Readers need both to judge.
The second task: compound survivors
The closure of the compounds released thousands of foreign workers, many of them from Africa. In June, US public radio NPR described former workers sleeping on the streets of Phnom Penh. Cambodia has only one shelter for trafficking victims, and it is full, with hundreds on the waiting list.
Overstaying a visa costs a fine of 10 dollars a day. After months in the compounds, many owe thousands of dollars they do not have. NGOs report people being detained for visa violations.
The Interior Ministry disputes this picture. Its spokesman, Touch Sokhak, says hundreds of thousands of workers have been rescued and repatriated in accordance with the law.
Information Minister Neth Pheaktra acknowledged the problem to NPR. The crackdown comes first, he explained. For Mark Taylor, a trafficking consultant who previously led a USAID-funded programme in Cambodia, the government has tackled only half the problem.
Cambodia's reputation: a shared concern
On one point, the government and its critics agree. In February, Hun Manet told AFP that these networks harm the country's legitimate economy and seriously damage its international reputation. NGOs say much the same, and the disagreement is about method.
What happens next will be decided in court. Amnesty is calling for independent investigations into the five firms and for their licences to be suspended while inquiries are under way. It also wants investigations into serving soldiers and police officers involved, and reparations for victims. The government, for its part, says operations are continuing, without exception.
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