Cambodia arrests Chinese, Taiwanese suspected of telecoms extortion

Cambodia has arrested 27 Chinese and Taiwanese nationals on suspicion of operating a telecoms extortion ring to defraud victims in China, officials said on Tuesday.

Cambodia has deported more than 200 Chinese nationals since November in a crackdown on internet and telecoms scams. Beijing is battling a fast growing industry in telecoms fraud that has cost billions of dollars in financial losses and driven some victims to suicide. Chinese and Cambodian authorities have coordinated to uncover scams orchestrated from Cambodia.

Cambodian police said people in Cambodia would call up people in China asking for money to free relatives allegedly held captive or for other fictitious reasons. "We are questioning them and if we find them guilty of the crimes, we will deport them," Uk Heisela, chief of investigations at Cambodia's immigration department, told Reuters on Tuesday after the latest arrests.

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