Only people involved in the “gray economy” are impacted by crackdowns on Cambodia’s online scam industry, a deputy provincial governor said as officials continue raids under their heavily promoted campaign against online fraud operations. 

Since January, Cambodian authorities have conducted raids on scam centers across the country, seemingly halting years of rapid growth. Hundreds of thousands of foreign workers left the country as police shuttered compounds, according to official announcements.

Svay Rieng’s Bavet city, a town brimming with casino-hotel compounds on the country’s main land border with Vietnam, has been one of the major scam hubs after Sihanoukville. It was emptied out starting in January amid chaotic scenes.

Estimates of the industry’s value vary, but the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime put it at $12.5 billion a year in a country with a GDP of a little over $50 billion.

However, “it does not impact the white economy,” Svay Rieng deputy governor Men Eng said during a half-year provincial progress report at the Interior Ministry.

The province had 13 special economic zones, and 12 of them had no scam operations while producing $500 million a year, he said. He didn’t detail what happened to the 13th zone during the briefing.

“The online scam issue has no impact,” Men Eng said on July 31.

“There have not been many concerns, because the brothers and sisters [who are concerned] are in the gray economy.”

Scams were an important issue to tackle, but they were isolated to the black and gray economies, he said.

Landlords needed to be careful about who they rented rooms to in order to avoid anti-scam fines, he added. “We apologize to the brothers and sisters who built rooms for renting,” he said. The fines were “not restrictions and prohibitions to cause you to lose your revenues from renting.”

Food vendors, taxi drivers, construction workers and others involved in the scam-adjacent economy have previously spoken of the boom and bust in scam-dominated areas.

Ongoing raids in Bavet

On August 11, Men Eng, the deputy governor, led an inspection of nine suspected locations in Bavet and found two alleged scam operations, according to local news outlet Kampuchea Thmey.

At one, authorities seized four laptops and 25 mobile phones. They arrested six foreign nationals at the second location.

The same day, three Vietnamese nationals were arrested over a kidnapping following a police chase, Kampuchea Thmey said, though no immediate links to scams were reported.

The suspects abandoned their vehicle and ran into rice fields, where they were apprehended. The kidnapping victim was rescued.

Svay Rieng police also shut down a clandestine scam operation in Bavet city and arrested eight suspects on July 26, Kampuchea Thmey reported. A computer, mobile phone and other equipment were seized, and the case sent to court.

Men Eng also led an inspection of the New Venetian Casino and Hotel on July 27, as part of checking that they were not being used for scams and updating casino license information.

Cases elsewhere

In the past month, a smattering of scam-related crimes have continued to be reported across the country:

• July 22: Phnom Penh authorities arrested 25 foreign nationals from China, Myanmar and Taiwan in Toul Kork district’s Boeng Kak 2 commune over alleged online scams. Computer equipment was also seized. (Kampuchea Thmey)
• July 23: Police arrested three Chinese suspects after a kidnapping near the Vanta shopping mall in Sihanoukville’s Buon commune. Liu Hailong was arrested and the victim rescued in Kampot’s Teuk Chhou district on July 23. Two other suspects were arrested in Phnom Penh’s Tonle Bassac commune the following day. The fourth was arrested in Poipet city also on July 24. (Kampuchea Thmey)
• July 27: Phnom Penh authorities arrested 55 suspects at a condominium in Tonle Bassac commune over suspected online fraud operations. They seized 88 laptops, 330 mobile phones and seven Wi-Fi devices. (Kampuchea Thmey)
• July 28: An Indonesian national was shot dead in Poipet city, near the Thai border. Nearby residents found the victim lying dead next to a motorbike around 2 a.m. Police said they were investigating. (Kampuchea Thmey)
• August 12: Kandal authorities raided a scam operation in a four-story rental building with 140 rooms in Chrey Thom village. Sixty-seven suspects were questioned. Sixty-three of them were deported, while the other four are being prosecuted. (Kampuchea Thmey)

Earlier, on July 14, anti-cybercrime police seized 32,000 SIM cards, 3,000 phones and more than 40 computers from three “large-scale” online fraud sites in Phnom Penh, Kampuchea Thmey reported. Four suspects were arrested to be charged with online fraud and money laundering.