(AsiaGameHub) – Even though the Cambodian government has recently made widely publicized claims that it is rooting out illegal online scam compounds, a new report from Amnesty International tells a different story.
The international human rights organization maintains that “a dozen casinos” across Cambodia are “directly connected to scamming compounds”. Within these properties, severe crimes including “torture, forced labour, child labour and human trafficking have been carried out”.
Three of these linked casinos are owned by Kok An, an alleged top cybercrime figure. The Sino-Cambodian businessman and politician, who the Thai Examiner has called the “gangster sidekick” of former prime minister and current Senate President Hun Sen, owns the Phnom Penh-based large business group Anco Brothers Co Ltd.
The report, which was released Thursday, draws on official licensing paperwork from Cambodia’s Commercial Gambling Management Commission (CGMC). The documents show casino owners directly control “at least 12 separate sites” where investigators have recorded human rights violations. “Our findings back up the testimony from compound survivors, who explained they were held and abused while on casino-owned land,” the report noted.
The casinos in question are reportedly based in Sihanoukville and border towns such as Poipet, which cater mostly to Thai visitors.
Findings Undermine Government Claims of Cybercrime Crackdown
Starting in 2025, Cambodia says it has made thousands of arrests as part of its cybercrime crackdown, targeting the notorious “pig butchering scams”. These online scams combine romance baiting and cryptocurrency fraud to target unaware victims, slowly building their trust over time. Scammers then convince victims to give up their money, usually by pushing them to invest in fake get-rich-quick schemes.
Between January and February this year, Cambodia reportedly closed 190 scam centres across the whole country. This included 44 casinos accused of involvement in “fraudulent activity conducted through technological systems”. Authorities also revoked the licenses of four casinos tied to Prince Group Holdings, which is reported to run one of the largest online fraud operations in the world. At its peak, Prince Group’s scams pulled in an estimated US$30 million per day. In January, Cambodian law enforcement detained the group’s leader Chen Zhi and deported him back to his home country of China, where he faces charges of fraud, money laundering, human trafficking and torture.
The CGMC said this enforcement work shows its commitment to “strengthen regulation of the commercial gaming sector … and ensure all operations are run lawfully”.
Report: New Scam Centres Are Replacing Dismantled Old Ones
But the Amnesty International report casts doubt on this stated commitment. Montse Ferrer, Co-Regional Director of the watchdog, said the group’s research “proves a clear connection between Cambodia’s licensed casinos and scamming compounds. At a time when the government says it is taking apart the scamming industry, evidence shows it is simultaneously approving plans for casino properties that house abusive scamming compounds.”
Recently, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime praised Cambodia for stepping up its battle against cyberfraud, a growing global threat that generates an estimated US$40 billion in illegal profits every year.
But Ferrer says Cambodia must do more. “If the government is serious about ending this slave-driven industry, it has to investigate every scamming compound in the country,” he said.
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