Cambodia has taken a dramatic step in its fight against fraud centers that have imprisoned innocent people and forced them to work as virtual slaves, deceiving victims over the internet with romance scams and dubious investment schemes.
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However, serious questions remain about whether law enforcement will live up to the rhetoric, especially as Amnesty International reveals that state-licensed casinos are directly linked to torture and trafficking.
Cambodia’s Anti-Internet Fraud Law was signed into law on April 6 by royal decree and comes into effect immediately, with stiff penalties. Scam ringleaders face prison sentences of five to ten years and fines of up to US$250,000. If their operations involve violence, torture, illegal detention, human trafficking or forced labor, the penalty increases to 10-20 years and fines of up to US$500,000.
The heads of fraud centers whose activities lead to death face sentences of 15-30 years or life in prison. The new law recognizes that many people within fraud centers are victims themselves and protects those who are forced or pressured to defraud others from criminal liability.
According to data from the United Nations and USAID, between 100,000-150,000 people are exploited in fraud centers across Cambodia. The industry is said to defraud more than US$12.5 billion annually from victims worldwide, usually through fake cryptocurrency investments and romance scams.
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Victims are lured into the web of scammers through deceptive job advertisements on social media and then trafficked into giant prison-like complexes, where they are forced to carry out online fraud under threat of violence.
The Cambodian government claims to be taking the problem seriously and says it has closed more than 250 fraud centers, including 92 casinos, and arrested 800 ringleaders since July 2025.
Observers have described Cambodian authorities' crackdown on the fraud centers as the most significant to date, but continue to call for stronger protections for victims and investigations into how the organized crime gangs that run the centers are allegedly linked to members of the elite.
Last year, the US State Department said that “official complicity, including at the highest levels, has hindered effective law enforcement against trafficking crimes,” a charge the Cambodian government denies.
Meanwhile, gangs continue to advertise scam jobs through Telegram channels, claiming they need people to work as “call center staff,” “translators,” and other roles, even as Cambodian authorities say they are shutting down the industry.
See also: US targets “fraud hubs” in Southeast Asia
Implementing the law was the easy part; the hard part will be dismantling the criminal networks, protecting victims, and eliminating the corruption and complicity that have allowed fraud centers in Cambodia to flourish.
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