UK and Cambodia join forces to take down scam compounds

The UK and Cambodia have signed an agreement to protect the British public from online scams originating from compounds based in Southeast Asia.

Signed on 23 September, the Memorandum of Understanding will see joint working between the two countries, including the UK assisting in training Cambodian law enforcement in training around cyber investigations, digital forensics, and investigative procedures.

The UK Government says tis builds on the launch of the Fraud Strategy announced in March 2026, in which £250 million is being invested into an Online Crime Centre, incorporating government, police, intelligence agencies, banks and tech firms.

In the UK, one in fourteen adults and one in four businesses have falled victim to fraud.

Scam centres targeted by UK and Cambodian team-up

Scam compounds and scam centres are large scale operations where fraud is scripted in order to target thousands of victims at once, using sophisticated tactics to lure victims into handing over money - sometimes this happens through fake online relationships, or schemes were victims are hurried into making payments under threat of arrest.

A large proportion of scam compounds originate in Southeast Asia, where it's claimed more than two dozen centres popped up or were expanded in Myanmar in the first six months of 2026, and if one site is raided, another can be quickly set up to fill the gap.

In addition, it's believed around 300,000 people working in these compounds are doing so against their will, having been trafficked into the facilities under the impression that they would be working abroad.

Survivors report having their passports taken away, subjected to constant surveillance and being forced to work through threats, violence and debt bondage, while also enduring torture and rape.

In Cambodia itself, it has been claimed by Amnesty International that police are aware but do little - on one occasion, they attended a compound to remove a dead body but did noting about the scam operation itself. Amnesty also alleges that victims who do escape are extorted by Cambodian police, left in immigration centres or abandoned to make do on the streets.

Under this new MoU, UK and Cambodian authorities will increase data sharing, coordinate activity against the criminal gangs, bring perpetrators to justics and insure that victims of trafficking receive the help they need.

Cambodia's anti-scam minister says the country is gathering evidence against the ringleaders, though a Reuters report suggests that a year long crackdown on scam compounds in the country has not seen the high-level figures captured.

Legal action, “whether it involves the mastermind, the co-conspirator, owner, enabler or protector, it requires time and also it requires evidence,” Chhay Sinarith, who heads a government commission on combating ​fraud, told Reuters this week.

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