PHNOM PENH - Cambodia called for faster cross-border action against online scam networks as a two-day international conference ended Thursday, Sept. 24.
Prime Minister Hun Manet told delegates that governments need quicker ways to exchange intelligence, follow illicit money and assets across jurisdictions and share evidence when investigations span several countries.
His Sept. 23 proposals also called for smoother extradition and mutual legal assistance procedures.
Banks, telecommunications companies, technology platforms and cryptocurrency exchanges would have a larger operational role under the approach, helping authorities detect suspected fraud, disrupt digital infrastructure and freeze accounts linked to illicit activity.
Hun Manet also put victim identification and repatriation alongside enforcement. He said authorities need to distinguish people trafficked and coerced into committing fraud from willing perpetrators, provide victims with humanitarian assistance and coordinate their safe return home.
That distinction has become increasingly important as scam compounds have drawn workers from around the world.
INTERPOL said in June 2025 that people from 66 countries had been trafficked into online scam centres as of March that year. Its analysis of relevant notices found 74% of the trafficking victims covered had been taken to centres in Southeast Asia.
A 2026 UNODC assessment later identified people from at least 80 countries and territories inside scam compounds in the region.
Cambodia’s state news agency AKP said representatives from 27 countries and seven international organisations attended the Sept. 23-24 conference.
Its closing report said discussions focused on faster intelligence and evidence sharing, financial investigations, digital forensics, asset tracing, private-sector cooperation and protection for people trafficked into scam operations.
The meeting took place as Cambodia faces continuing scrutiny over the scale of scam compounds operating in the country. Reuters reported that Cambodian authorities say they have shut hundreds of compounds, while analysts have questioned whether enforcement has dismantled the networks behind them.
Delphine Schantz, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, described the conference as showing a “growing openness to cooperate,” but said further action was needed within countries and across borders.