PHNOM PENH, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- International participants at a conference in Phnom Penh called for stronger global coordination to stamp out pervasive online scam networks amid mounting economic and security harms inflicted by transnational cyber fraud.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the International Conference on Combating Online Scams, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet emphasized that online scams are a cross-border regional crisis rather than an isolated, single-country issue.
He said criminal syndicates are mobilized by massive financial incentives and supported by highly sophisticated, cutting-edge technologies.
"In response, our international unity must be even stronger, backed by modern, efficient, and genuinely collaborative enforcement mechanisms," he told the conference with more than 500 participants.
Hun Manet said no single country can solve this cross-border challenge alone.
"I wish to make our position clear: Cambodia will never be a safe haven for online scams," he said. "Our government enforces the policy of zero tolerance, no exceptions, and no retreat."
Hun Manet said Cambodia will not allow criminal syndicates to undermine the country's progress and the livelihood of over 17 million Cambodian people.
Cambodia launched an unprecedented nationwide crackdown on cyber scam networks mid-last year.
According to government data, authorities dismantled 663 online scam sites across the country, including 86 large-scale scam compounds, between July 2025 and August 2026.
The crackdowns also led to the deportation of more than 22,000 foreigners representing 38 different nationalities.
Hun Manet said operating from these locations, scammers orchestrated investment fraud, romance scams, and other forms of cyber deception targeting victims worldwide.
Delphine Schantz, regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said the UNODC estimated that scam losses in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand now amounted to up to 114 billion U.S. dollars per year.
"This number is growing rapidly. It also does not include the substantial losses in other parts of the world," she said.
"These vast proceeds not only directly undermine the rule of law and governance, but they're reinvested to further grow the industry," she added.
Nicholas Court, director of Taskforce Coordination at the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), said the threat from fraud is still growing and requires collective commitment from all stakeholders to curb and eradicate this global challenge.
"While we are sitting in this room today, hundreds, if not thousands, of people around the world become victims of fraud," he said. "Interpol stands ready to support all of you and the investigators in all of your countries to combat fraud more effectively."
Kin Phea, director general of the International Relations Institute of Cambodia, a think tank under the Royal Academy of Cambodia, noted that dismantling scam compounds is only the beginning of the mission. He warned that these criminal networks are highly adaptive, transnational, and increasingly technology-driven.
"Cambodia should therefore move from a crackdown-centered approach to a permanent system of prevention, detection, and disruption," he told Xinhua. "Law enforcement must target the entire criminal chain -- not only frontline operators, but also masterminds, financiers, recruiters, facilitators, and corrupt protectors."
Phea added that a stronger "follow the money" approach is essential to combating the issue. This strategy should include enhanced financial intelligence, asset freezing, asset confiscation, and deeper cooperation with banks, digital payment platforms, and virtual-asset service providers. ■
