Cambodia's failed cybercrime crackdown takes bizarre twist
samlot chit
Cambodia's failed cybercrime crackdown takes bizarre twist
This screenshot shows Kenyan victims of the cyber-scam industry in Cambodia returning to their home country after being rescued by their government in April 2025. A recent hoax announcement circulating on social media ordered all Africans still stranded in the kingdom to leave by June 1. (Photo: Youtube)
In the latest bizarre twist to Cambodia’s endless cybercrime saga and dismally failed crackdown, a hoax official “announcement” ordered all Africans to leave the kingdom.
In the May 29 order, Africans were given until June 1 to leave or be jailed and fined, according to the realistic-looking letter, complete with royal stamps.
The post targeted Ghanaians and several other African countries.
The hoax was circulated on social media but did not appear on any official government site.
The government, which closely monitors the web for “fake news,” took almost a full day to refute the notice.
So it quickly went viral, driving already-stranded victims of the cyber-scam industry deeper underground.
“I don't know what to do anymore,” Chidi, a 24-year-old Nigerian who did not want his full name used, told UCA News.
“This scared the s**t out of me. My passport was stolen [by scam employers]; I have no papers.
“There is no embassy here.
“Even if I could buy a ticket, it’s useless. I have no papers. No papers.
“The embassy is thousands of miles away. They cannot help. How can someone in the Philippines understand Cambodia? I am running out of money. What can I do?”
For Nigerians in Cambodia, their nearest official consular assistance is in Manila — about 1,800 kilometres and an entirely different time zone away.
The embassy did not respond to UCA News requests for comment.
The situation is not much better for victims whose country does have an embassy here.
“We have extra people sent in, but there are just too many [victims],” a consular officer at an ASEAN embassy told UCA News.
“Imagine, they have no papers. Nothing to prove they even come from our country.
“Some of them come from remote villages. It is not easy to contact their families for proof.
“What a nightmare!”
A shoe exporter from a West African country told UCA News:
“How the hell does someone deal with this? It’s crazy.
“I understand and respect rules. But how did this happen?
“You have to ask yourself why is this still happening? Who gets something out of this?
“After all this time, with all these resources, they still cannot do?
“Something is wrong. Something is very wrong.”
Two months after a self-imposed deadline to wipe out the cybercrime industry and more than a month after an extended deadline expired, Cambodia is still hopelessly wallowing in a sea of stranded scammers.
Daily raids across the country still net dozens more.
The Catholic Church is one of the few organizations helping.
But its resources are stretched.
Cambodia has taken limited action, and only under international pressure.
In January, it deported Chinese-born businessman Chen Zhi, the alleged mastermind of the industrialization of scam compounds
And a court in May sentenced six Chinese men to life in jail for the torture and murder of a young South Korean man.
And that only happened after Seoul issued a travel alert and summoned Phnom Penh’s ambassador for a rebuke.
The US and the UK have also imposed sanctions and frozen billions of dollars in assets.
But the scamming continues.
So, how has an autocratic nation with total control over daily life failed so badly?
Acting-head of state Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge commander, former prime minister and father of current leader Hun Manet, blames corruption and Cambodia's neighbors, saying Cambodia is a victim.
“I am very surprised as a former government administrator and head of the ruling party that there are tens of thousands of online scammers in Cambodia,” he told a summit of government officials on May 24.
“Cambodia will do it again to reveal the truth that Cambodia cleans online scams.”
In 2022, when Hun Sen was prime minister, the United Nations said there were about 100,000 foreigners in Cambodia trapped as scammers.
Human Rights experts say the number has skyrocketed since then.
One analyst, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, told UCA News it was unlikely Hun Sen was unaware of the scale of the problem.
“Foreign governments have been warning [Cambodia] for years,” they said.
Juanito, a 22-year-old Filipino from the strife-torn island of Mindanao, has been stranded in Cambodia for eight months.
Instead of sending money home, he now relies on his family getting money to him through back channels.
“I am so ashamed,” he told UCA News. “I came here to send money back. To help my family.
“Instead, they lock me up and make me steal and lie to people I don’t even know.