Fraudsters flee Cambodia’s ‘scam city’ after accused boss Chen Zhi taken down

TIPPED OFF

But the Cambodian government claims the lawless era has come to an end, with Prime Minister Hun Manet pledging on Facebook to “eliminate … all the problems related to the crime of cyber scams”.

Cambodia’s anti-scam commission says it has raided 118 scam locations and arrested around 5,000 people in the last six months.

Following Chen’s deportation to China, the Cambodian government has tightened the screws on some Prince Group affiliates, ordering Prince Bank into liquidation and freezing home sales at several of its luxury properties.

In recent months, China has stepped up its pursuit of the scam industry, sweeping up Chen and other key figures from across Southeast Asia to try them on its own soil.

But while Cambodia says it is “cracking down”, there are suspicions over the timing.

A tuk-tuk driver in Sihanoukville told AFP hundreds of Chinese people left one compound this week before police arrived.

“Looks like they were tipped off,” said the 42-year-old, declining to give his name.

Mark Taylor, former head of a Cambodia-based anti-trafficking NGO, said the “preemptive shifting of scam centre resources”, including workers, equipment and managers, had been seen ahead of law enforcement sweeps.

It was “seemingly the product of collusion”, he added, in a strategy with “dual ends” of boosting the government’s anti-crime credentials while preserving the scamming industry’s ability to survive and adapt.

Amnesty has accused the Cambodian government of “deliberately ignoring” rights abuses by cybercrime gangs, which sometimes lure workers with offers of high-paying jobs before holding them against their will.

AFP journalists saw several coachloads of Mandarin speakers leaving Sihanoukville on the main highway to the capital Phnom Penh.

Multiple people said they “didn’t know” where they were going or what their plans were, but appeared anxious as they anticipated law enforcement closing in.

Outside the Amber Casino, holding a fake designer hold-all, the Bangladeshi man fell in with the crowd, saying: “This is about survival now.”