Cambodia is preparing to offer delegates from over 20 nations — alongside representatives from the FBI, Interpol, and other global bodies — guided visits to former online scam operations that have been dismantled, as part of an upcoming international conference focused on combating technology-driven fraud.

A Global Gathering Against Cyber Fraud

The International Conference on Combating Technology-Facilitated Fraud, scheduled for September 23–24, will bring together participants from countries across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, as well as six international organizations. Information Minister Neth Pheaktra emphasized that no single nation, Cambodia included, can confront the challenge of transnational cybercrime on its own.

The event is being organized with backing from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's regional office for Asia and the Pacific, Interpol, and the Lancang-Mekong Integrated Law Enforcement and Security Cooperation Centre.

Delegates will examine how online scam networks have rapidly evolved, explore ways to bolster international cooperation, and exchange best practices. Cambodia plans to share its own enforcement experience, including escorted tours of major scam sites that have been shut down.

Cambodia's Crackdown by the Numbers

According to Pheaktra, Cambodian authorities have conducted raids on more than 700 suspected locations, determining that over 600 were connected to fraudulent operations. Of those, 86 were classified as large-scale scam compounds.

Hae Makara, a member of the Ad Hoc Commission for Combating Technology-Facilitated Fraud, revealed that roughly 300,000 phones were seized during operations, while financial transactions amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars are under investigation by relevant agencies.

Around 300,000 foreign nationals have voluntarily departed Cambodia, and approximately 20,000 more have been deported, Pheaktra said. Those figures do not account for over 2,000 individuals whose cases are still pending in the courts.

Cooperation, Not Confrontation

Pheaktra stressed that the conference is designed to foster collaboration rather than assign blame to any particular country. He also took an apparent swipe at Thailand, stating that Cambodia would not follow the approach of a neighboring nation that he accused of using the fight against online scams as a pretext to encroach on Cambodian sovereignty.