On the morning of February 17, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Sokha said at the opening of the 2026 Safer Internet Day that Cambodian citizens had lost more than $45 million to domestic online scams in 2025. Less than $20 million had been recovered; increasingly professional and organized criminal groups had transferred the remainder, making it extremely difficult to recover.
Sar Sokha said bank-impersonation scams had risen significantly, with criminals using claims such as prize notifications to induce victims to transfer money. He also cited newer methods including sextortion, involving deception or coercion to obtain intimate material before demanding money, and romance scams that exploit emotional relationships for financial gain.
He stressed that the shame and embarrassment caused by such crimes inflicted severe psychological harm and had even driven some victims to extreme actions. He said: “Although Cambodia lost $45 million last year, losses from online scams worldwide have exceeded $44 billion.” He used the comparison to show that Cambodia’s problem formed part of a global wave of cybercrime.
