Over 500 Gather in Phnom Penh! International Anti-Scam Conference Opens, Cambodia Makes Clear Stance
On the morning of September 23, the International Conference on Combating Online Scams officially opened in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Representatives from 27 countries and 6 international organizations attended, with more than 500 participants. The conference focused on the governance of online scam crimes and international law enforcement cooperation, jointly exploring effective mechanisms to address transnational cybercrime.
In his welcome address at the opening ceremony, Cambodian Senior Minister and head of the secretariat of the Anti-Online Scam Committee Chhay Sinarith said that online scams are evolving rapidly and have become a complex criminal issue with a transnational nature.
He pointed out that online scams are a new type of crime carried out with the help of modern technology, characterized by organized operations, transnational reach, strong concealment, and rapid changes. Criminal groups often set up bases in one country while targeting victims in other countries, and are gradually intertwining with transnational organized crimes such as human trafficking, forced labor, and money laundering.
Chhay Sinarith specifically stressed that Cambodia is not the source of online scams, but like other countries, it has also been chosen by some transnational criminal networks as a location to carry out scam activities. Some foreign criminal groups use locations within Cambodia to carry out scams against victims abroad and Cambodian citizens.
He said that the related criminal activities not only affect national security and social order, but also bring negative impacts on Cambodia's tourism, investment, economic development, as well as its international image and reputation. The criminal activities are carried out by groups of different origins, but the related impacts are borne by Cambodia as the victim country.
Chhay Sinarith said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Hun Manet, the Cambodian government hosted this international conference to demonstrate its political determination to combat online scams and to strengthen international law enforcement cooperation. He stressed that Cambodia will adhere to a stance of "no exceptions, no retreat" in combating online scams, while continuing to deepen collaboration with the international community with an open attitude to jointly address the increasingly complex transnational cybercrime.