A joint Preah Sihanouk task force conducted multiple raids and inspections of alleged online scam operations on March 23, detaining 50 suspects across several locations.
Provincial authorities said the team inspected 26 suspected sites and carried out raids at four, including the Jinsha Holiday Hotel, a villa compound, the Sheng Yu condominium and a rental house in Sangkat 4.
The operation resulted in the arrest of 50 suspects , including 36 Chinese nationals, three Cambodians (one woman), five Indians (two women), three Bangladeshis, two Pakistanis and one Myanmar woman. A number of items were seized as evidence, including desktop computers, laptops and mobile phones.
In addition to the raids, authorities also inspected the Golden Casino in Sihanoukville, where they discovered equipment suspected of being used in online scam activities, including 186 desktop computers and 154 mobile phones.
The suspects and evidence have been transferred to the Preah Sihanouk Provincial Police for further legal action and investigations to identify those behind the operations.
According to the Secretariat of the Anti-Online Scam Committee, nationwide efforts to combat online scams from 2025 to the second week of March 2026 have led to the shutdown of 236 locations across the capital and provinces. Of these, 91 were casino sites, while 145 were located in boreys, villas, condominiums and other residential properties.
A Ministry of Justice report stated that over the past eight months, Cambodian courts have processed 79 cases related to online scams, involving 697 suspects.
The cases included Vietnamese, Indonesian, Japanese, South Korean, Burmese, Bangladeshi, Singaporean, Nepali, Indian, Malaysian, Cambodian, Pakistani and Thai nationals, including several major cases involving alleged foreign ringleaders.
Prime Minister Hun Manet has pledged to eliminate online scam activities from Cambodia by April 2026, stressing that the Kingdom must not serve as a base for cybercrime or transnational fraud. He warned that any individuals or entities involved will face the strictest penalties, without exception.
