Cambodia is drafting a law targeting online scams, seeking to build a bulwark against criminals using the country as a base to siphon billions of dollars from victims globally.
The new law “will develop an important and clearer legal framework to enhance the effectiveness in the prevention, suppression and crackdown of online scams,” Information Minister Neth Pheaktra told Bloomberg News.
The ministry didn’t disclose the specific provisions of the draft law, or whether it would explicitly outline mechanisms for international cooperation.
A US Institute of Peace report estimated that transnational criminal networks running illegal online gambling and scam operations worldwide stole at least $64 billion in 2023 alone. The United Nations has also warned that scam centers in Southeast Asia have become a multibillion-dollar industry fueled in part by human trafficking, with thousands of workers coerced into carrying out online fraud.
Enforcement efforts in Cambodia have escalated in recent weeks. Authorities say they’ve conducted at least 190 raids on suspected compounds and deported more than 9,000 foreign nationals since the start of the year.
“Cambodia is not a safe haven for online criminals to carry out scams or cross-border crimes,” said Neth Pheaktra. “Any individuals or entities behind these scam operations will face the harshest penalties under the law, without leniency or interference.”
Tracking cyber activity across countries and through cryptocurrency networks is complex. What is classed as a cybercrime in one country may not be in another, according to Interpol’s Neal Jetton, who leads the Cybercrime Directorate in Singapore.
In general there’s not much harmonization of legislation. Some countries in Southeast Asia only set up cyber units a few years ago. And information sharing between countries and agencies is a challenge, be it on cyber, curbing human trafficking or tracking illicit funds.
A stronger legal framework around cybercrime could help at least to disrupt scam centers, according to Andreas Schloenhardt, a criminal law professor at the University of Vienna.
“In the medium and long-term, the offenses and other measures under the new United Nations Convention against Cybercrime can be used to investigate and prosecute cyber scams and the corporations and corruption that facilitates them,” he said. “The UN Cybercrime Convention was adopted in 2025 and will likely enter into force in 2027 or 2028, when a sufficient number of states have ratified it.”
The Cambodian legislation has been drafted in alignment with the United Nations convention, to which the country is a signatory, Neth Pheaktra said. The Justice Ministry will seek technical input from relevant government agencies before the bill is submitted to the national assembly for approval.