Asean must act vs online scam industry
Last month, China’s President, Xi Jinping, undertook a tour of Association of Southeast Asian (Asean) member countries in an effort to shore up his country’s relationships amidst rising tensions, and fears of a full-blown trade war with the United States. While these visits sought to tighten diplomatic ties and deepen economic collaborations, a troubling issue continues to fester in many countries: the growing proliferation of cybercrime and multibillion-dollar cyber scam networks.
Reportedly originating in China, many of these scam centers—operated by or with the support of the Chinese Mafia—have taken root within Asean countries in recent years. Thriving on corruption and a lack of transparency, these operations have seized on the willingness of certain countries, such as Cambodia and Myanmar, to serve the interests of Beijing. Now at what the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) calls an “inflection point” for cybercrime regionally, nations around the world are stepping up their responses to the risk of online fraud by scam centers in Southeast Asia.
These centers have gone global with the adoption of artificial intelligence that allows the development of alternative online worlds, into which victims are pulled and subsequently defrauded. Operators also have years of accumulated knowledge at their disposal and can use their database of information to identify weak spots in their potential victims. There are callers purporting to represent law enforcement agencies, requesting online bankers to send their card details for investigation. Similarly, people who want to start a relationship online find themselves talking to individuals who seem to match their criteria perfectly.
These disarming and increasingly sophisticated tactics can have crippling impacts not just in Asia but across the globe. US-based Heartland Tri State Bank collapsed in 2024 after its CEO, Shan Hanes, was found guilty of embezzlement and imprisoned for making $47 million in wire transfers to cyber scammers. The scammers had convinced him to invest in a seemingly lucrative but bogus cryptocurrency scheme on a fake website. The bank’s failure cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation $54.2 million to reimburse depositors.
Some countries in the Asean region, including the Philippines, Laos, and Myanmar have taken steps, in response to international pressure to crack down on cybercrime operations within their environs. However, in the case of Cambodia, there has been willful ignorance about an industry that is harming ordinary Khmer citizens, and those in the region. As the UNODC points out, there has been no sustained law enforcement drive by the political regime in Phnom Penh since a series of raids focused on Sihanoukville in 2022.
In February this year, shortly before Filipino police rescued over 30 Indonesian nationals from a Chinese-run online operation in Pasay City, its operators were exploring a move to Cambodia.
The role of certain Asean members in propagating cybercrime runs deep in some cases. O-Smach Resort case, near the Thai border in Cambodia, has been repeatedly identified as a major hub for cyber scam operations and human trafficking. Victims at this center have described horrific working and living conditions, including long hours, physical abuse, and threats of violence if they fail to meet scamming targets, which include “pig butchering” investment fraud and romance-related scams.
In September 2024, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Cambodian tycoon and Cabinet-level advisor, Ly Yong Phat, and his L.Y.P. Group Co., which owns O-Smach Resort, specifically citing “serious human rights abuse related to the treatment of trafficked workers subjected to forced labor.” A subsequent US Trafficking in Persons Report also noted that the Cambodian government has failed to adequately investigate and hold accountable officials involved in trafficking crimes, including those linked to cyber scam operations.
This problem is not exclusive to Cambodia, but exists in other Asean countries, including Myanmar. There is much that needs to be done, particularly among Asean members, to clamp down on these complex operations. Members should push for an independent investigation into the casinos used for cybercrime operations—including those owned and operated by high government officials and complicit military figures.
The findings of this investigation, processed through reformed courts, must lead to the removal of the cybercrime mafia and the sanctioning of those involved. Without this, the security—and economy—of the region will continue to be threatened. The UNODC has been clear that corruption and lack of effective governance is a driving factor in the growth of cybercrime. If governments in Southeast Asia are serious about protecting their citizens, they must act.
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Samady Ou is a Cambodian youth activist, a Human Rights Foundation Freedom fellow and a youth ambassador for the Khmer Movement for Democracy.
