Cambodia’s anti-fraud zone triggers humanitarian crisis, leaving a large number of foreigners stranded on the streets

(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) Faced with growing international pressure, Cambodia has stepped up its crackdown and shut down fraud centers that have flourished in the country.

A nationwide crackdown on crime kicked off in Cambodia earlier this year, leaving tens of thousands of former fraudsters on the streets and sparking a humanitarian crisis.

AP interviews with former fraudsters, nonprofits working to investigate human trafficking and other experts reveal the extent of the crisis created by Cambodia's crackdown. The former fraudsters say they suffered arbitrary detention, police harassment and were forced to sleep on the streets because the government banned housing for them. Nearly a year later, hundreds of people are still stranded there.

Critics say many former scammers are victims of human trafficking and the government should investigate them to find out whether they were abused inside the scam complex. “Governments often view immigrants who fall at the center of scams as criminals, and we have seen no evidence that authorities are making adequate efforts to screen them against internationally recognized indicators for identifying human trafficking,” said Li Ling of Eos Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to investigating human trafficking.

In Cambodia, online fraud is a multi-billion dollar industry. It is estimated that about 100,000 practitioners engage in online fraud in large and heavily guarded campuses. They live in dormitories and are not allowed to leave. Some people know they are involved in illegal activity, but many are lured by false promises of well-paying jobs and become entangled in complex human trafficking networks.

According to data collected by CyberScamMonitor, a watchdog that tracks scam locations, there are at least 182 confirmed scam dens in Cambodia, but the agency has evidence that the actual number of dens is about 300.

In late 2025, a Korean international student died after being forced into a fraud complex, and the United States indicted a Chinese-born founder of a Cambodian conglomerate (the group was suspected of large-scale cryptocurrency fraud), which brought such fraud activities to global attention.

In September this year, Cambodia announced that it had smashed all large fraud dens and was prosecuting cases related to these frauds. Last month, Cambodia said it had seized $1 billion worth of assets from an alleged fraud network and asked Interpol to help track down 29 gang leaders.

But Cambodia has provided no evidence that it is taking action against the criminal operators behind these scams, or the Cambodian political and business elite who helped them grow. These elites make the fraud industry prosperous by providing funds, facilities and connections. They include senior politicians and relatives of Prime Minister Hun Manai, according to the U.S. Congress, which has called for sanctions.

“They need to start holding accountable elite criminals who have evidence to back it up, not fabricated, frivolous mid-level investigations, but cabinet-level members, senators and members of the prime minister’s family,” said Jacob Daniel Sims, a visiting scholar at Harvard University’s Asia Center and an expert on transnational crime.

Cambodian Information Minister Neth Pheaktra did not respond to detailed questions sent via Telegram from The Associated Press about how Cambodia handles fraudsters, calls to prosecute its top politicians, or any ongoing criminal cases.

Earlier this year, in response to AP questions about the treatment of former fraud workers affected by the crackdown, Patra said, "Cambodia denies that it failed to protect victims of human trafficking or tolerated abuses associated with fraud dens." He claimed that "all personnel are screened to distinguish victims from perpetrators, and victims are provided with protection, shelter, medical services and assistance with safe return." But he did not provide evidence of any such procedures.

Many former employees are still trapped there

After police raided the dens, the fraudsters fled and tens of thousands flocked to Phnom Penh. Many former practitioners have no money to buy flights home and receive little help from their home countries’ embassies.

While there are no complete figures on how many fraudsters have left the scam complex, reports from neighboring countries offer a glimpse into the size and diversity of this group. China said in June that it had repatriated more than 20,000 people associated with the scam park, according to China Central Television. A border province in Vietnam said it received more than 1,700 former workers in the first half of 2026.

The Indonesian Embassy said in September that it had received requests for assistance from 12,940 Indonesian citizens to return home, and another 700 people were still stranded in Cambodia. Uganda's ambassador to the region said it has helped 1,000 Africans return home.

Government policy changes become a major obstacle

Many former practitioners have had their passports seized by fraud gangs and face fines for overstaying in Cambodia without valid visas. Even if they are able to pay the fine, the Cambodian government has banned accommodation establishments from renting rooms to these former workers. Many people end up living on the streets without food for days at a time.

Police also conducted multiple sweeps and took former practitioners to detention centres. They must stay there until they can buy a return ticket. Two former practitioners told The Associated Press that they were held at a detention center called Mango 2. There, they were huddled with former practitioners and slept on the floor until they were later offered flights home by aid groups.