DEFLECTION DEFENCE
To be sure, the bad publicity has placed Cambodia’s government on the defensive – and it has tried to deflect.
In the wake of South Korea warning its citizens not to travel to certain areas in Cambodia, Cambodia’s Minister of Tourism Huot Hak said he guaranteed the safety and security of tourists, characterising incidents related to the online scam industry as isolated and mostly perpetrated by illegal foreign networks.
Cambodia recorded a total of 4.3 million international tourists in the first nine months of 2025, down 8.8 per cent over the same period last year, said its Ministry of Tourism earlier this month. The decline may not be attributable solely to concerns over scamming and trafficking; at least some may be related to armed clashes with Thailand in late July.
Cambodia’s fight with Thailand about borders is on the one hand a useful distraction and channels nationalist sentiment in Cambodia. But on the other hand, there is a risk that the Cambodian state may be seen as not up to protecting its national territory. The risk of incipient resentment against foreign, mainly Chinese-run scam centres and resentment against Thailand coalescing to put pressure on Cambodia’s ruling regime cannot be dismissed.
Perhaps most critical is the size of the scam industry in Cambodia. The World Bank estimates Cambodia’s 2024 gross domestic product at US$46.35 billion. Reports on the country’s scam industry, such as one published in May 2024 by the US Institute of Peace in Washington DC, have estimated its annual turnover ranges from US$12.5 billion to US$19 billion.
Experts say the scam industry is so pervasive and central to the economy, and the level of complicity of segments of the state so deep, that given the economic and political stakes, even the best-intentioned Cambodian authorities are themselves constrained. If they were to seriously move against the biggest kingpins and prosecute them, and take real steps to eradicate the industry, they would risk the country’s economy collapsing.
But until then, the crackdowns and headlines will continue – and so will the scams.
Nirmal Ghosh, a former foreign correspondent, is an author and independent writer based in Singapore. He is also on the Board of GI-TOC, but this piece is written in his personal capacity. He writes a monthly column for CNA, published every third Friday.
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