Amnesty says Cambodia crackdown missed most scam compounds

Cambodia’s high-profile crackdown on online scam compounds has not dismantled most of the suspected sites, raising fresh questions about whether the state is breaking the networks or only disrupting them on the surface. Amnesty International said authorities intervened at just 24 of 86 suspected scam locations it identified, leaving more than 70% of the compounds it tracked apparently untouched.

The 176-page report builds on Amnesty’s June 2025 investigation, which identified at least 53 scamming compounds in Cambodia. By the end of April 2026, Amnesty said the number of suspected sites had risen to 86, including additional compounds and suspicious locations documented during the latest review. The group said it interviewed 73 survivors from 16 countries and found that none were screened or recognized as trafficking victims by Cambodian authorities.

Amnesty described a response that was often reactive and uneven, with several sites moving during the crackdown to evade detection. It also said there were apparent signs of collusion between compound managers and police, an allegation that goes to the heart of the enforcement problem: if managers can warn compounds before raids, the crackdown becomes a theater of motion rather than a dismantling of criminal capacity.

The human cost remains stark. Amnesty said the compounds held people subjected to human trafficking, torture and slavery, and that the state had failed to protect and support them. The findings also fit a broader regional pattern. Scam networks have spread across Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and parts of Myanmar since the pandemic, feeding a transnational cyberfraud economy that thrives on weak governance and mobile criminal infrastructure.

The Cambodian government rejected the report, with senior minister Chhay Sinarith calling it selective, one-sided and lacking a full understanding of conditions on the ground. He said the state was carrying out coordinated police operations, arrests, asset seizures and the dismantling of criminal compounds across several provinces.

The stakes extend far beyond Cambodia. The United States estimates Americans lost $10 billion to Southeast Asian scam centers in 2024. Earlier research cited annual losses of $43.8 billion across Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, underscoring why a crackdown that leaves most compounds standing is being read not as a victory, but as a test of state capacity.