Unwelcome ‘investors’: Rise in crimes by Chinese gangs threaten safety of all nationalities

The recent rise in crimes committed by Chinese syndicates, from online gambling and job scams to human trafficking and abduction, is threatening the safety of people of all nationalities in the Kingdom. Many are disguising themselves as private companies operating online services in investment zones.

Most of these crimes are taking place in Preah Sihanouk’s Sihanoukville which is popular among Chinese investors and visitors. From 2016 to 2018, Sihanoukville saw a large influx of Chinese investors and workers in Cambodia, thanks to a real estate boom. With them came gangs which operated online gambling outlets leading to debts, mainly among their own nationals, resulting in a rise of crimes such as abduction and extortion of gamblers.

There was also a surge in telecom fraud, or Voice over Internet Protocol scams, involving Chinese gangsters preying on their own countrymen. In the first eight months in 2019 alone, nearly 1,000 Chinese nationals had been arrested by the police, including 115 suspected of telecom fraud and 335 suspected of participating in illegal online gambling operations.

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