July 11, 2025
TOKYO – A string of Japanese nationals have recently been accused of involvement in special fraud at Cambodia-based scamming compounds. People with business ties to one such compound told The Yomiuri Shimbun that it even contains a nightclub and karaoke rooms for residents, who are not allowed to go out.
A Chinese crime syndicate is believed to be behind the operation, and the area, including the base, resembles a townscape in China.
Kept confined
After a 21/2-hour drive from Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh, a huge structure came into view along a road in the eastern province of Prey Veng, about three kilometers from the Vietnamese border. Many cranes were in operation on the site, which was surrounded by a several-meter-high wall, and dump trucks could be seen passing through the gate.
In April and May, the Fukuoka prefectural police uncovered several recruiters for special fraud operations. A man who was introduced to a job by the recruiters is believed to have engaged in telephone fraud from a building on the compound, which was used as a scamming base. The suspect allegedly impersonated a police officer or prosecutor and asked Japanese victims to transfer money.
A driver said that he had picked up Chinese investors from Phnom Penh and dropped them off at the base a number of times. He said a casino surrounded by an artificial pond was under construction in the center of the compound. Low-rise offices and lodgings surrounded the casino site. The driver said everything people might need, from daily goods to entertainment, was available there, with supermarkets, karaoke rooms and even a nightclub. Residents believed to be involved in the scams were kept confined there, and only business partners and the like were allowed to enter and leave the compound.
The nationalities of the people living in the lodgings reportedly varied. The driver said they included not only people from Southeast Asian nations, such as Thailand and Vietnam, but also South Koreans and Australians. He said all of them were working at a call center on the premises. “Everyone knows that this is a fraud base,” he said, keeping his voice low.
Chinese yuan accepted
“This area used to be covered in rubber plantations. It’s developed rapidly over the past year,” said a self-employed man who brings in construction materials to the site. According to the man, the area began attracting many Chinese investors after Chinese businesses came up with a plan several years ago to develop the area. A Chinese hospital has been built near the suspected scam base. Chinese restaurants in the area accept Chinese yuan.
Development by Chinese-owned companies is underway in multiple locations in the area. According to a senior local government official, the various development projects have created about 50,000 jobs. However, all the project sites are suspected of being used as scam bases. The official asked an official of the provincial government to investigate the sites, but the official brushed the request aside, saying there was nothing to worry about. “They may bring a lot of economic benefits, but they make me uneasy,” the man said. “I want to confirm what’s going on with my own eyes.”
Intervention merely ‘for show’
The situation is similar in Poipet, in the northwestern part of the country, where 29 Japanese nationals were taken into custody at the end of May. In Poipet, which borders Thailand, large hotels with casinos have been built one after another in recent years, and signboards using simplified Chinese characters catch the eye. Chinese crime syndicates reportedly use places like casinos as their bases. Following the discovery of special fraud bases in eastern Myanmar earlier this year, they have been noted to be speeding up their operations.
The Japanese nationals detained in Poipet were transferred to Phnom Penh. On June 24, the Aichi prefectural police and other law enforcement bodies dispatched investigators to the country to examine the suspects’ links with special fraud cases in Japan. Saitama and Ibaraki prefectural police have also arrested senior group members and people allegedly engaged in fraud over the phone in connection with Cambodia-based fraud cases.
Meanwhile, Cambodian authorities say they are stepping up efforts to crack down on scam bases. In May, the Cambodian government revealed that it had uncovered about 24,000 individuals involved in online fraud and human trafficking over the past three years and rescued 4,840 people from more than 20 foreign countries who had been involved in fraudulent activities.
In a report released on June 26, however, Amnesty International, an international human rights organization, criticized the Cambodian authorities for their “collaboration or coordination” with Chinese organizations that operate such bases when they are uncovered. The report pointed out that many scamming compounds continue to operate even after being exposed, saying the authorities’ interventions appear to be merely “for show.”