Cambodia shuts 605 scam sites and revokes 20 casino licenses in year-long crackdown

Cambodia's Commission for Combating Technology-enabled Scams (CCTC) reported that authorities investigated 751 suspected scam locations between July 2025 and July 31, 2026, sealing and shutting down 605 of them¹. Over the same period, authorities examined 195 licensed casinos, revoked 20 casino licenses and suspended 29 more over links to scam operations, while a further 23 licenses expired and those businesses ceased operations¹.

The figures also cover people and cases. Cambodian authorities processed 21,666 foreigners from 38 nationalities for deportation and repatriation, with Chinese, Vietnamese, Pakistani, Indonesian, Bangladeshi and Indian nationals the largest groups¹. Law enforcement referred 388 criminal cases involving 4,147 suspects from 27 nationalities, described as including alleged ringleaders and their accomplices, to the courts¹.

The CCTC framed the casino enforcement as significant because casinos, hotels and other large compounds have repeatedly come under scrutiny in regional efforts against scam operations¹. The government has described its position as one of "no tolerance, no exception and no retreat"¹.

A separate account of the same period, published by The Gaming Boardroom, said a July inspection had already found 72 of the 195 licensed casinos involved in online fraud, more than a third of the licensed estate³. That figure does not appear in the CCTC reporting carried by the Phnom Penh Post¹.

Enforcement has also moved into residential areas. In a night-time operation, authorities raided two properties in Phnom Penh's Russey Keo district and seized 585 mobile phones and other equipment². At one house they found a Malaysian man suspected of scam involvement and a stockpile of 540 mobile phones, 14 monitors, 10 all-in-one computers, 21 CPUs, five Wi-Fi devices, seven passports and a large quantity of foreign SIM cards². In a nearby rented room, three Cambodians were detained and 45 mobile phones and 154 SIM cards seized². The district administration did not disclose the type of scams, potential victims, target countries or financial losses, and the four suspects and evidence were transferred to Phnom Penh Municipal Police².

What it means for players

The casino licenses revoked and suspended were tied to links with scam operations, not to ordinary play, and the CCTC has not published the names of the affected casinos¹. Anyone checking whether a land-based venue in Cambodia is licensed currently has no public list from these figures to work from.

The wider campaign targets fake casino sites and scam compounds rather than regulated gambling, but the two overlap in Cambodia: the CCTC said casinos and large compounds have repeatedly come under scrutiny in regional anti-scam efforts¹. Players dealing with online operators claiming Cambodian casino backing have no way to verify that claim from the published figures. Background on how these operations work is in our guides to fake casino sites and gambling scams in Cambodia and casino impersonation scams.

For foreigners, the deportation total of 21,666 people from 38 nationalities covers people processed over scam work, not gamblers¹. Separately, the Commercial Gambling Management Commission has drafted a suitability framework setting minimum conditions operators must meet to keep a license, discussed at a meeting chaired by Secretary-General Yeth Vinel on September 4, with criteria and a timetable not yet released³. The same account said Cambodia will suspend all casino-based live online betting from October 2026 on the order of Prime Minister Hun Manet, with casinos that breach it risking their licenses³. That suspension is not reported in the CCTC figures¹.

What happens next

Cambodia hosted the International Conference on Combating Online Scams (ICCOS-2026) in Phnom Penh on September 23-24, 2026, at the Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra, themed "Acting Together Towards Breaking the Chain and Eradication of Online Scams"¹. Prime Minister Hun Manet presided over the opening, with representatives from the FBI, China, INTERPOL and other countries and organizations taking part¹. The Lancang-Mekong Integrated Law Enforcement and Security Cooperation Center and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific are listed as co-supporting institutions¹.

At the conference, the CCTC reported that from July 2024 to August 2026 authorities dismantled 86 scam compounds and shuttered 27 casinos linked to major online fraud networks, with 446 cases involving 3,527 suspects from 29 nationalities before the courts and about $300 million seized from bank accounts linked to the campaign⁴. Those totals cover a longer period and differ from the July 2025 to July 2026 figures¹. The crackdown is backed by the Law on Anti-Technology-Driven Fraud, enacted in April 2026, which provides for life imprisonment in serious cases and covers property owners and others who knowingly facilitate the activity⁴.