Cambodia has revoked the licences of 20 casinos and suspended 29 more as part of a nationwide crackdown on technology-enabled scam networks, according to updated figures released this week by the state news agency Agence Kampuchea Presse.
The latest tally says authorities carried out operations at 751 suspected scam locations and shut 605 of them. It also says investigators examined all 195 licensed casinos in the country.
The casino figures have shifted as the crackdown has continued. An earlier July report said 19 casino licences had been revoked and 30 suspended. The new count puts the number of revocations one higher and suspensions one lower, while also recording 23 licences that expired and businesses that ceased operations.
The one-year effort, running from July 2025 through 31 July 2026, also produced 388 criminal cases involving 4,147 suspects from 27 nationalities, which were forwarded to the courts. Authorities said 21,666 foreigners from 38 nationalities were processed for deportation and repatriation between July 2025 and July 2026.
H.E. Touch Sokhak, the deputy spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said the results showed the government’s determination to combat online scams and prevent Cambodia from becoming a safe haven or money-laundering base for technology-related criminals.
The Anti-Cyber Crime Department described the scam centres as organised criminal networks. It said senior managers and team leaders assign targets, supervise workers and systematically collect victims’ information, while using high-speed internet, VoIP, encrypted messaging applications and other technologies to hide their identities and locations.
The schemes named in the reporting included cryptocurrency investment fraud, romance scams and illegal online lending, with victims inside and outside Cambodia. The proliferation of scam centres has also drawn international attention, and Amnesty International earlier this year accused Cambodia of renewing the licences of 12 Cambodian casinos despite alleged evidence of severe human rights abuses inside them.
The crackdown has had wider economic consequences. According to the reporting, negative headlines about the campaign severely affected Cambodia’s tourism industry, with international arrivals falling 47.8% in the first five months of 2026.
A separate one-year report submitted by Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith to a Cabinet meeting on 24 July said police had raided 737 online scam centres between June 2025 and June 2026, inspected 28,500 locations and uncovered illegal operations at 665 sites. Prime Minister Hun Manet called that report “a major step forward”.
That report also pointed to expanded cooperation with China, the US, South Korea, Japan, Australia, ASEAN member states, INTERPOL, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the Mekong-Lancang Integrated Law Enforcement and Security Cooperation Center.
The latest figures were released as Cambodia prepares to host the International Conference on Combating Online Scams in Phnom Penh on 23-24 September. The conference will be opened by Hun Manet and is meant to deepen international cooperation against what its website calls a “complex transnational challenge”.
