A Global Cyber-Scam Industry Is Booming in Plain Sight in Cambodia

Despite announcing a crackdown last year, the illegal operations have continued to flourish, protected by powerful officials with close ties to the government.

Around the world, reports of cyber-scam schemes targeting unsuspecting victims online have proliferated rapidly. Southeast Asia has become a center of gravity for those criminal syndicates, often in remote and war-torn corners. But in Cambodia, the scam industry has been flourishing well within the reach of officials.

For much of last year, dozens of nations reported that criminal gangs operating in Cambodia had lured tens of thousands of people into the country with the promise of high-paying jobs and free housing. Instead, they were forced to work for online scam mills while under intense surveillance in nondescript compounds, part of a multibillion dollar industry that has entrapped victims on both sides.

read more https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/28/world/asia/cambodia-cyber-scam.html