Authorities investigated at least three large compounds for scam activity around Cambodia’s Poipet city, and car inspections continue in the city, months after armed raids happened across the border town in April and May. 

Local news and authorities documented raids at three different sites in Banteay Meanchey province during the first two weeks of July:  one Poipet city villa and two large complexes in nearby Ou Chrov district.

When authorities conducted the first raid of the Poipet villa on July 2, the suspects believed to be foreigners running scam operations had already fled, according to Kampuchea Thmey. However, officials from the anti-cybercrime team returned to gather evidence, collecting 245 phones, 2 laptops, 65 computers, 40 iPads, 14 computer towers, foreign passports, Cambodian work cards, foreign bank cards and documents. The National Police were still seeking the owner of the villa to continue the investigation. 

Then on July 10, authorities investigated two different properties and found foreigners working at both locations, according to a Kampuchea Thmey report on July 11. At the first location, consisting of two contiguous buildings of 29 storeys and 13 storeys in Ou Chrov district’s Samaky Meanchey village, authorities found 20 Indonesian nationals while inspecting the 338 rooms in the property. After reportedly talking with the building’s owner, authorities deemed the Indonesians not to be conducting online scams. 

But at the second unnamed location in Ou Chrov’s Samaky Meanchey village, authorities reportedly detained 14 Thai nationals found working in a 12-story, 132-room building. The authorities seized 1 computer, 1 laptop, 3 iPads, 123 mobile phones, 559,950 Thai baht (about $16,665), and another $15,856 in U.S. dollars. 

Late last month, authorities arrested five foreign nationals at a checkpoint after inspecting their car and finding more than 150 phones and a pistol. Cambodian National Police announced the arrest on June 27, two days after inspecting the car to find 155 mobile phones, computers and equipment as well as a metal rod and a Zoraki Mod 914-T pistol and a cartridge with seven bullets. 

In a related move, the Commerce Ministry’s Commercial Gambling Management Commission announced it would remove licenses from two Poipet casinos in relation to allegations of conducting online scams. The regulator announced it would revoke the license of KMH Paradise Tower Casino & Hotel on May 7, and that of Orchid Hotel & Rich Casino on May 4. 

The actions come after a reporter witnessed a raid in April near the Orchid Hotel & Rich Casino, in which authorities fired into the sky and schoolchildren fled from their classrooms in fear. 

Separately, authorities also cracked down on a villa inside a Chip Mong Group borey in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district in late June, according to news outlet Kampuchea Thmey. A total 24 foreigners – almost all from China with one from Malaysia – were detained for questioning and evidence including 22 laptops, 691 phones, 10 wireless access points and a router among other things. Authorities said they found online scams being committed in this location without any further confirmation. 

More payment services dismantled

Users of the payment services app H-Pay were told early this month that the liquidator didn’t have sufficient funds to resolve their debts, ending their hopes of easily recuperating debts. 

REACHS & Partners, the liquidating firm appointed by National Bank of Cambodia to review accounts of both H-Pay and Huione Pay, announced on July 8 that it found H-Pay to be insolvent, closing its liquidation procedures after about a month of taking claims from customers.

The liquidator said customers can as a next step take their claims to court to try to resolve the case. 

H-Pay and Huione Pay customers continued their protest campaign outside the National Bank headquarters and Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh on July 13 and 14. CamboJA News reported that a Chinese national was detained by Cambodian authorities after the July 13 protest, but authorities did not offer an explanation for the arrest. 

A Chinese user of H-Pay who asked to remain anonymous because of local and overseas security concerns said the detained man had not been released as of Thursday. 

Meanwhile REACHS & Partners was tasked on July 8 with liquidating another payment services company called Speed Pay Plc, with claimants having 30 days to report to REACHS to reclaim lost funds. 

Speed Pay held a payment services license through at least September 2023, according to a National Bank document, however the company was not listed on the most recent list of payment service institutions published on May 31. 

The company, which was established in 2019 according to Commerce Ministry data, was initially owned by the Malaysian payment services provider Adaptis by NTT Data, and then reportedly acquired by another Malaysian firm, GHL Systems Bhd, in 2023 for a little over $2 million. Former Malaysian directors of GHL Systems, including Leong Kah Chern, Loh Wee Hian and Yap Chih Ming, were previous directors of Speed Pay, according to the Commerce Ministry’s directory. 

Former deputy gov, social media sentenced

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on July 13 sentenced Thy Sovantha and her husband to three years in prison over social media posts about the Cambodia-Thailand border conflict. 

The couple, Thy Sovantha, 31 and Phae Sovannarith, 35, were charged with article 472 of the Criminal Code, “demoralization of the army” and additionally fined 6 million riels, or about $1,500. 

The couple was reportedly arrested in December, after Thy Sovantha posted frequently about the active conflict with Thailand. Thy Sovantha first emerged as an opposition activist for the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party, but she joined the ruling Cambodian People’s Party in 2017. She later served as deputy governor of Kandal province’s newly established Arey Ksat city from 2023 until she was removed from the position and expelled from the party last August.