A senior Cambodian official has sounded the alarm over online fraud rings using foreign SIM cards and telecom networks to trick people in their home countries, urging nations to cooperate more closely to stop cross-border crime.

Speaking at the International Conference on Combating Online Scams (ICCOS-2026) in Phnom Penh on September 23, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Chea Vandeth said Cambodia's own experience shows fraudsters commonly use phone numbers from the countries where their targets live, so that calls and messages appear to come from a local source.

“Criminals use phone numbers from the countries of the people they want to scam,” Vandeth warned.

He explained that perpetrators based in Cambodia can buy SIM cards issued elsewhere and use international roaming services. Because the number looks local to the victim, the scammer appears more believable and trustworthy.

Cambodian authorities have found that large numbers of foreign SIM cards are being shipped into the Kingdom for use in these schemes. In one raid, officials uncovered more than 50,000 SIM cards from various countries inside a small scam compound, according to Vandeth.

He urged all nations to tighten SIM-card registration and identity checks before cards are handed out.

“No telco anywhere in the world should be allowed to sell anonymous SIM cards,” he said.

Vandeth noted that Cambodia has already taken steps to keep criminal networks from abusing its telecommunications infrastructure. Since 2022, the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) has taken action against more than 330 illegal base stations, including equipment used to provide unauthorized telecom services that support online scams, he said.

The Kingdom has also stepped up efforts to dismantle the digital infrastructure used by scammers. A dedicated monitoring team has helped block more than 53,000 illegal websites, while cooperation with major platforms such as Meta, Telegram and Binance has led to the removal of more than 5,300 accounts, pages and groups linked to scam recruitment, fake job offers and online fraud.

Vandeth stressed that action within a single country cannot fully solve the problem because criminal networks operate across borders.

“Cambodia cannot solve this problem on our own,” he said, calling on governments, regulators, law enforcement, financial institutions, telecom companies and digital platforms to share intelligence, strengthen identity verification and close the regulatory gaps that criminal networks exploit.

“Only coordinated international action can close this gap,” Vandeth added.