Muskrat

【Cambodia Pledges to Eliminate All Scam Operations by Khmer New Year】 Cambodia’s government has set an ambitious deadline. Eradicate every cybercrime syndicate in the country before Khmer New Year in April. It’s a bold claim. Scam compounds have operated openly in the country for years, often with apparent impunity. So why the sudden shift? Interior Ministry Secretary of State Chou Bun Eng announced the timeline in an interview with Khmer Times, saying enforcement will intensify across all provinces. “The large-scale nationwide crackdown is ongoing and will only get bigger, and the government will eradicate all forms of online scams before the Khmer New Year holiday,” Bun Eng said. “All authorities and agencies, as well as provincial officials, will work harder than ever on the same mission to make sure that there is not a single syndicate left in our country.” Officials say they’ve learned from past failures, when investigating cases individually allowed operators to simply relocate. “In the past, when we conducted investigations on each reported case separately, we always ran into the problem of the offenders fleeing the scenes, from one den to another,” Bun Eng said. “Now, we are fighting a massive network, but we have the experience, work force and resources that we need for a nationwide crackdown.” The numbers back the rhetoric. Since mid-2025, authorities have raided 118 suspected crime locations and arrested 4,983 suspects from 23 nationalities. January 2026 alone saw the extradition of Prince Group founder Chen Zhi and a single operation in Bavet City that netted 2,044 foreign nationals. Whether Cambodia can actually clear every compound by April remains to be seen. But the political commitment appears genuine, and the operations show no signs of slowing.