On the afternoon of July 30, law enforcement agencies in Cambodia’s Pailin province carried out a joint operation, raiding two premises suspected of involvement in telecommunications and online fraud. Officers held 46 foreign nationals at the scene and seized electronic equipment suspected of use in illegal activities. The case remains under investigation.
According to the Pailin provincial administration, the operation was conducted under the provincial governor’s overall command. Police and relevant agencies inspected two resorts in a remote mountainous area, focusing on checking people’s identities and collecting evidence from electronic equipment and other items linked to the case.
Officers found items suspected of involvement in the case and conducted further investigations into the 46 foreign nationals. The authorities said they would take legal action against those involved according to the investigation’s findings.
The operation also reflects how telecommunications and online fraud groups are changing their methods to evade law enforcement. Interior Ministry Deputy Spokesperson 杜速克 had previously said that large scam compounds had largely been cleared nationwide, but some groups had shifted to dispersed, smaller and more concealed operations, moving people into remote areas and the mountains to continue their illegal activities.
杜速克 said some sites uncovered in recent cases involved only one to three people, indicating that criminal groups were splitting into smaller units to evade law enforcement.
Prime Minister Hun Manet also said in a recent media interview that, as enforcement intensified, scam groups were changing their operations from large, centralised compounds towards dispersed, small-scale networks, making investigations more difficult.
Hun Manet stressed that telecommunications and online fraud is a transnational crime that no country can easily tackle alone. He said Cambodia would continue to intensify enforcement, strengthen international law enforcement cooperation, combat scam crime, further restrict criminal activity and work to create an environment in which it could not thrive.
