Cambodia's Commission for Combating Online Scams (CCOS) said authorities repatriated 18,864 foreign nationals linked to online scam operations between January 2025 and May 24, 2026, with the individuals coming from 33 different countries and territories1. The figures were released in response to an Amnesty International report, "Falling Through the Cracks: Cambodia's 'Crackdown' on Scamming Compounds and the Victims It Has Failed," which questioned the effectiveness of the country's anti-scam campaign1.
According to the CCOS figures, authorities dismantled more than 400 cyber scam cases between July 2025 and May 20, 2026. Over the same period, 25 casino licenses linked to online scam activities were revoked or suspended, and 143 cases involving 1,458 suspects were referred to the courts1.
Amnesty said it identified 86 scam compounds across Cambodia by April 2026, up from the 53 identified in its previous investigation. Researchers interviewed 73 survivors, who described human trafficking, forced labor, torture and unlawful confinement inside compounds linked to online fraud. Amnesty said it found evidence of state interventions at only 24 of the 86 compounds it identified1.
Chhay Sinarith, head of the CCOS secretariat, disputed suggestions that locations had been ignored, saying many sites identified by researchers are mixed-use developments containing condominiums, hotels and legitimate businesses alongside suspected criminal activity, which requires investigators to gather sufficient evidence before raids1.
"The core operating systems, command technologies and especially the financial chains, money laundering flows and real masterminds are outside Cambodia's jurisdiction."
He also described many interventions involving removed foreign nationals as humanitarian rescue efforts rather than purely criminal investigations, saying many had been trapped in illegal working conditions and required shelter, medical support and help returning home1.
What it means for players
The figures cover people linked to online scam operations, not licensed gambling, and no source states that any licensed casino in Cambodia has been closed to the public. The 25 revoked or suspended casino licenses were those linked to online scam activities, so the practical effect falls on venues tied to that activity rather than on the licensing system as a whole1.
For anyone gambling in Cambodia, the reported pattern is that scam operations move people and equipment between sites when enforcement pressure rises, and that some compounds sit inside mixed-use buildings that also hold ordinary businesses1. Amnesty's account of workers being warned before police visits, and of survivors being relocated shortly before an expected operation, describes how such operations try to stay ahead of raids1. Background on how these schemes work and how to report them is set out in Gambling Scams and Safety in Asia.
What happens next
No dated next steps are given in the CCOS response. Chhay Sinarith said Cambodia has increasingly relied on intelligence-sharing mechanisms, mutual legal assistance agreements and cross-border financial investigations to pursue individuals directing operations from abroad, and called for deeper international cooperation1.
