Latest news with #Cambodia-based
Bangkok Post
14 hours ago
- Bangkok Post
NCSA boosts cyber defence amid rising border tensions
The National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) is reinforcing the resilience of critical infrastructure in preparation for potential cyberattacks, while the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) has warned against artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes in information warfare—particularly amid escalating tensions at the Thailand-Cambodia border. NCSA has increased preparations for critical infrastructure—mainly in energy, telecom, finance and electricity—to prevent cyber warfare amid the rising tensions between Cambodia and Thailand, AVM Amorn Chomchoey, NCSA secretary-general, told the Bangkok Post on Thursday. 'We will closely monitor the situation with relevant agencies on a 24/7 basis, as the alert level has been raised from Yellow to Red,' said AVM Amorn. He added that the agency has stepped up preparations over the past two months, as several Cambodia-based hacker groups have allegedly engaged in periodic cyber warfare and disinformation campaigns. Moreover, AI-generated deepfake images are being used to fabricate scenes of a Thai F-16 jet being shot down, aiming to boost the morale of Cambodian soldiers. Sak Segkhoonthod, senior advisor of ETDA, warned media and online users to verify information before sharing during this intense period. In another development, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) ordered mobile phone service operators to increase cellular signal strength along the Thailand-Cambodia border to a normal level to support military communications in the area, according to Trairat Viriyasirikul, NBTC acting secretary-general. Earlier, the NBTC had directed telecom operators to reduce signal strength in the region to prevent cross-border signal spillover, which could be exploited for cybercrime or by call centre scams.
The Diplomat
6 days ago
- Business
- The Diplomat
FATF is Behind the Curve on Cambodia's Cyber-scam Compounds
According to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, Cambodia-based scamming operations are generating billions of dollars in illicit profits each year. The global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) watchdog has yet to publicly grasp the dangers posed by the growth of cyber-scam compounds, including converted casinos, in Cambodia since the COVID-19 pandemic. Financial controls at Cambodian casinos were identified as an area of concern by the Paris-based FATF in a mutual evaluation report as far back as 2017. The report found that the Cambodian sectors most vulnerable to money laundering were casinos, along with the real estate, legal, and remittance and banking sectors, due to a lack of regulatory supervision. The FATF added Cambodia to its 'grey list' in February 2019, but removed the country from the list in February 2023. Yet a further mutual evaluation report in August 2023 found that: 'Weaknesses remain with fit and proper tests of casinos, lawyers, and accountants.' This was no simple loophole. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that cyber-enabled fraud caused financial losses of between $18 billion and $37 billion in 2023, most of it due to scams by organized crime groups in Southeast Asia. Cambodia, along with Myanmar, is a major scamming hub. UNODC in January 2024 reported that COVID-19 led to the repurposing of Cambodian casinos into cyber-scam compounds as regular business dried up. Yet Cambodia and other countries in the region, according to UNODC, 'pay virtually no attention' to casino junket operators, despite 'widespread misuse of these businesses for large-scale money laundering and underground banking by transnational organized crime groups.' I recently interviewed FATF president Elisa de Anda Madrazo for the Financial Times publication 'Banking Risk and Regulation.' She pointed to cases of the authorities in Cambodia and Malaysia cooperating to make arrests of members of organized crime gangs suspected of human trafficking. Such arrests have not been enough to dent the capacity of the compounds. In April 2025, the UNODC found periods of increased law enforcement activity in Cambodia have 'dampened the expansion of these industries in some more visible and accessible locations' but have also prompted 'significant expansion in more remote locations.' De Anda Madrazo said that Cambodia's next assessment will start 'in the next few years' and will assess how it is dealing with 'emerging threats.' Cyber-scam compounds in Cambodia and the region could fairly be classified as an established, rather than an emerging, danger. De Anda Madrazo herself said that 'cyber-enabled fraud is a major transnational organized crime that has grown exponentially in recent years.' Nigel Morris-Cotterill, a financial crime risk strategist based in Malaysia, argues that routine corruption needs to move up the agenda. Financial crime, he says, 'happens in large part because of corruption. And it persists because of lack of resources, especially in countries which have poorly paid law enforcement.' The basic police salary in Cambodia in 2024 stood at 1,306,550 riel ($326) per month. As in many other poor countries, bribes of all kinds are routinely taken to increase income. Police corruption in Cambodia is part of the much broader issue of the rule of law. The 2024 World Justice Project Rule of Law Index puts Cambodia at 141 out of 142 countries globally. The existence of industrial-scale cyber-scamming increases the possibilities for police on low pay. Amnesty International last month documented 20 cases of compounds in Cambodia which were the subject of one or more police and/or military interventions, but found that human rights abuses continued at the compounds even after the visits. When the police or military intervened, they would rescue only a small number of individuals in response to specific requests for help. The 'rescues' were largely controlled by scamming compound bosses, and were nothing like a 'raid.' The police would typically meet a boss at the gate, who would hand over the pre-requested individual. Amnesty also found evidence of collusion between police and compound bosses prior to the raids. In one case, two trafficked victims were moved immediately before a government 'crackdown' in Sihanoukville. There was no rush by the police to help the 'rescued' victims. Most survivors of scamming compounds interviewed by Amnesty spent two to three months in police detention centers, without being questioned in detail about their experiences. Some victims have reported that the police were willing to sell them back to the compounds for the right price. Low-level corruption, Morris-Cotterill says, receives little attention from the FATF. The reason, he says, is that 'there's no money in pursuing it: the entire counter-money laundering approach changed in the early 2000s from being a crime reduction measure to being about confiscation.' 'If policing is all about expenditure and revenue, which is what confiscation has come to be about, then policing has become a business, not a public service. This, as much as corruption, is a reason that crime is not deterred or detected.' De Anda Madrazo argued that being taken off the grey list doesn't make a country immune to financial crime. Morris-Cotterill sees a need for the FATF to rethink how it approaches the problem. 'The little stuff doesn't matter in the big policy-making forums,' he said. 'I find that disturbing.'
The Hindu
17-07-2025
- The Hindu
Two arrested in human trafficking racket case linked to international cybercrime in Visakhapatnam
The City Police on Wednesday (July 16, 2025) arrested two individuals, including a woman, for their alleged involvement in a human trafficking racket connected to international cybercrime operations. The accused have been identified as L. Suresh and Adilakshmi, both residents of Gajuwaka. With the arrest of the duo, the police were able to prevent five youths from being trafficked out of the country. Addressing the media, Police Commissioner Shankabrata Bagchi said that the accused were running a recruitment agency that targeted unemployed youth, promising them computer-based jobs abroad. The victims were sent to countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Bangkok, and were trapped by cybercrime offenders and forced into illegal activities, he said, adding that the kingpin of the racket has been identified as Vijay Kumar, who is suspected of recruiting at least 150 individuals for such overseas scams. Explaining the modus operandi, Mr. Bagchi said the cybercrime offenders would create fake social media profiles to target elderly and influential people. These fraudsters would lure victims into schemes involving cryptocurrency investments, instant loan offers, honey traps, digital arrests and various financial scams. Mr. Bagchi urged the youth to thoroughly verify the licence of recruitment agencies before engaging with them. He also warned the youth against getting involved in such scams, saying that it might have serious legal consequences, including the issuing of lookout notices. The Police Commissioner also urged the parents to ensure that their children working with such companies return to India promptly. Mr. Bagchi revealed that approximately 150 individuals from the city were currently working with such cybercrime organisations abroad, adding that the police have rescued 87 of them till date. In a bid to create awareness about Cambodia-based job frauds and the dangers of fake job agencies, the police released a poster. These posters will be available at all police stations across the city. 'Nava Samaja Nirmanam' Earlier in the day, Mr. Bagchi launched a programme titled 'Nava Samaja Nirmanam' at Dr. L. Bullayya College. The motto of the programme was to create awareness about drug abuse, road safety and cybercrimes. Mr. Bagchi sensitised a large gathering of students on the current issues and administered them with a pledge to stay away from drugs and cybercrimes.
Yomiuri Shimbun
10-07-2025
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Cambodian Compounds Allegedly Serve as Fraud Bases; Chinese Crime Syndicates Believed to Be Operating Massive Scam Centers
A string of Japanese nationals have recently been accused of involvement in special fraud at Cambodia-based scamming compounds. People with business ties to one such compound told The Yomiuri Shimbun that it even contains a nightclub and karaoke rooms for residents, who are not allowed to go out. A Chinese crime syndicate is believed to be behind the operation, and the area, including the base, resembles a townscape in China. Kept confined After a 21/2-hour drive from Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh, a huge structure came into view along a road in the eastern province of Prey Veng, about three kilometers from the Vietnamese border. Many cranes were in operation on the site, which was surrounded by a several-meter-high wall, and dump trucks could be seen passing through the gate. In April and May, the Fukuoka prefectural police uncovered several recruiters for special fraud operations. A man who was introduced to a job by the recruiters is believed to have engaged in telephone fraud from a building on the compound, which was used as a scamming base. The suspect allegedly impersonated a police officer or prosecutor and asked Japanese victims to transfer money. A driver said that he had picked up Chinese investors from Phnom Penh and dropped them off at the base a number of times. He said a casino surrounded by an artificial pond was under construction in the center of the compound. Low-rise offices and lodgings surrounded the casino site. The driver said everything people might need, from daily goods to entertainment, was available there, with supermarkets, karaoke rooms and even a nightclub. Residents believed to be involved in the scams were kept confined there, and only business partners and the like were allowed to enter and leave the compound. The nationalities of the people living in the lodgings reportedly varied. The driver said they included not only people from Southeast Asian nations, such as Thailand and Vietnam, but also South Koreans and Australians. He said all of them were working at a call center on the premises. 'Everyone knows that this is a fraud base,' he said, keeping his voice low. Chinese yuan accepted 'This area used to be covered in rubber plantations. It's developed rapidly over the past year,' said a self-employed man who brings in construction materials to the site. According to the man, the area began attracting many Chinese investors after Chinese businesses came up with a plan several years ago to develop the area. A Chinese hospital has been built near the suspected scam base. Chinese restaurants in the area accept Chinese yuan. Development by Chinese-owned companies is underway in multiple locations in the area. According to a senior local government official, the various development projects have created about 50,000 jobs. However, all the project sites are suspected of being used as scam bases. The official asked an official of the provincial government to investigate the sites, but the official brushed the request aside, saying there was nothing to worry about. 'They may bring a lot of economic benefits, but they make me uneasy,' the man said. 'I want to confirm what's going on with my own eyes.' Intervention merely 'for show' The situation is similar in Poipet, in the northwestern part of the country, where 29 Japanese nationals were taken into custody at the end of May. In Poipet, which borders Thailand, large hotels with casinos have been built one after another in recent years, and signboards using simplified Chinese characters catch the eye. Chinese crime syndicates reportedly use places like casinos as their bases. Following the discovery of special fraud bases in eastern Myanmar earlier this year, they have been noted to be speeding up their operations. The Japanese nationals detained in Poipet were transferred to Phnom Penh. On June 24, the Aichi prefectural police and other law enforcement bodies dispatched investigators to the country to examine the suspects' links with special fraud cases in Japan. Saitama and Ibaraki prefectural police have also arrested senior group members and people allegedly engaged in fraud over the phone in connection with Cambodia-based fraud cases. Meanwhile, Cambodian authorities say they are stepping up efforts to crack down on scam bases. In May, the Cambodian government revealed that it had uncovered about 24,000 individuals involved in online fraud and human trafficking over the past three years and rescued 4,840 people from more than 20 foreign countries who had been involved in fraudulent activities. In a report released on June 26, however, Amnesty International, an international human rights organization, criticized the Cambodian authorities for their 'collaboration or coordination' with Chinese organizations that operate such bases when they are uncovered. The report pointed out that many scamming compounds continue to operate even after being exposed, saying the authorities' interventions appear to be merely 'for show.'
Time of India
30-06-2025
- Time of India
Indian part of Cambodia ‘digital arrest' call centre held at IGIA
Gurgaon: Chasing money trail after a cyber fraud was reported in the city, city cops last week took into custody a 24-year-old woman from Delhi's IGI airport on the suspicion that she was allegedly part of a Cambodia-based gang that targeted Indians with 'digital arrests'. Khushboo, police said, belongs to Surat in Gujarat and told cops that she was working at a call centre owned by Chinese citizens in an area called Mango Park in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. At the call centre, staffers were allegedly taught to pose as police, CBI and customs officials to threaten online users and extort. You Can Also Check: Gurgaon AQI | Weather in Gurgaon | Bank Holidays in Gurgaon | Public Holidays in Gurgaon "In the first stage, victims are told their documents are linked to illegal activities. Then, impersonators posing as CBI officers appear on video calls, claiming to 'digitally arrest' the person. Finally, scammers pretending to be income tax or customs officials extort money under the guise of investigation clearance," said Priyanshu Dewan, ACP (cyber). The ACP was leading the investigation into the Cambodia-based operations after an 81-year-old Gurgaon resident filed a complaint that she was cheated of Rs 2.9 crore in Dec 2024. The complainant said a caller claimed her Aadhaar card was linked to hawala transactions. Cyber cons then forced her to stay on a video call — or "digital arrest" — for three days while another person posing as a CBI officer coerced her into transferring money to avoid arrest. Based on this complaint, an FIR was registered at the Cyber East police station in the city under sections 318(4) (cheating), 336(3) (forgery), 348 (making or possession of any instrument for counterfeiting a property mark) and 340 (forged document) of BNS. Khushboo, investigators said, is the 16th accused to be arrested in the case. Cops arrested her from the Delhi airport on June 28 after getting a tip-off that she was flying back to India. During questioning, Khushboo told police she initially went to Dubai in search of a job in Nov 2023. From there, her friend's husband took her to Cambodia in Aug 2024. She joined the call centre and was paid 700$ (approximately Rs 60,000) to carry out cyber frauds. "Khushboo was assigned to the first team, which initiated contact with targets and instilled fear by mentioning criminal charges," said inspector Amit Sharma, in charge of the Cyber East police station. The 24-year-old said her colleagues at the Mango Park call centre were Indians, and there were several other call centres like theirs across the southeast Asian country. The amount that the gang amassed from cybercrimes was allegedly funneled through a network of fake accounts, police said. Cops traced one account, in which Rs 39 lakh was transferred, owned by another Indian citizen, Surendra. He allegedly gave access to the account to cyber cons in return for Rs 5 lakh. Police said the investigation in the case is ongoing.
