Source: Camboja
Hundreds of thousands of foreigners have been deported from Cambodia after being nabbed during cyberfraud crackdowns in the past 15 months in line with new legal measures aimed at dismantling the scam industry as international scrutiny intensifies.
The government announced the latest figures which coincided with the U.S Treasury Department’s sanctioning of Cambodian Senator Kok An. He has been accused along with 28 associates and entities of running scam compounds that stole millions from Americans.
From early 2025 to April 19, 2026, Cambodian authorities have implemented procedures to expel foreigners involved in technology fraud. Some 13,039 people of 33 nationalities, including 1,509 women, were deported during that period, according to a statement by the government spokesperson on Friday.
From mid-January this year to April 19, a total of 241,888 foreigners including Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Indian, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani nationals left Cambodia voluntarily.
Prime Minister Hun Manet issued strict orders to relevant departments to destroy technological fraud networks, calling authorities to “root out” the crime “without tolerance and exception”. He compelled them to remove its operational capacity, cut off financial sources and close all channels.
In the last nine months, authorities nationwide cracked over 250 cases of technology-based online scam, including 91 casino locations, and filed 112 cases in court. Some 1,089 suspects from China, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, as well as Cambodia, faced legal action.
Back in 2023, a report by the U.N. human rights office estimated that at least 120,000 people in Myanmar and 100,000 in Cambodia have been forced to work in online scam operations.
Moeun Tola, executive director of CENTRAL, said there is no denying that the government has carried out numerous raids on online scams. However, full elimination of the crime and identifying their masterminds requires strong political will and commitment. He observed that those who have been arrested or deported so far appear to be “mostly low-level workers”, while the key figures remain at large.
“If you ask whether it’s over, I would say it is not,” he said. “Only some individuals have been arrested, while those named in sanctions do not appear in the government’s arrest reports.”
Tola expressed concern that Cambodians may be vulnerable in terms of recruitment into online scam operations, as hiring continues via social media platforms. He said dismantling the entrenched networks would only be possible if authorities target and prosecute those orchestrating the schemes.
“Without holding the masterminds accountable, these online scam networks cannot be destroyed,” he said.