22 Chinese Arrested in Cambodia over Telephone Scams

Xinhua Web Editor: Shi

Fifty-one Chinese suspects caught by Cambodiam police over telephone scams were brought back to China in July, 2014. [Photo: Xinhua]

Cambodian police arrested 22 Chinese, who were suspected of transnational telephone fraud, in southeast Cambodia's Svay Rieng Province on Saturday, August 29.

A number of telephones and computers were also seized, said Gen. Y Sokhy, chief of Cambodia's anti-terrorism department, according to Xinhua.

The suspects were accused of employing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), an Internet phone service, to make phone calls from Cambodia to blackmail people in China, said Xinhua.

The fraudsters usually identified themselves as court or police staff, saying the call receivers' bank accounts had been compromised and the funds should be transferred to other secure accounts.

This criminal act bypassed police monitor and brought financial losses to Cambodia's telecommunications industry, Sokhy said.

The current case is not the first of its kind. For example, in September, 2013, 51 Chinese telephone scam suspects were caught in Cambodia. Last May, another 10 Chinese were detained. In July, 2014, the Cambodian police, joined by the Chinese police, arrested 80 suspects from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Vietnam, who were repatriated for trail.

source: http://english.cri.cn/12394/2015/08/30/2281s893775.htm