Cambodia’s National Police kicked off another major crackdown across the country this August, targeting small, scattered scam operations. Over the course of the month, authorities shut down 85 locations and arrested more than 1,200 suspects. The group was a mixed bag of 13 nationalities, though Chinese nationals made up the majority with over 700 detained, followed by Vietnamese, locals, and people from Thailand.
Once you catch them, you have to ship them out. That same month, the General Department of Immigration handled the deportation of over 2,000 foreigners, more than 500 of whom were directly tied to online scams. Working hand-in-hand with the Chinese Embassy, they organized three chartered flights to send hundreds back home. Meanwhile, checkpoints remained busy on the streets as police stopped suspicious vehicles and checked thousands of people, eager to keep these syndicates from simply shifting locations and setting up shop elsewhere.
Aside from rounding up suspects, local authorities also cracked down hard on landlords. Under a new regulation introduced this year, anyone who knowingly rents property to illegal foreign immigrants—or turns a blind eye—faces a fine of 4 million riel per person. Throughout August alone, landlords were hit with over 200 million riel in fines, which works out to more than $200,000. It is a clear warning that anyone renting out flats or apartments here needs to be extra careful, or they might end up paying fines that far outweigh the rent.
