The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is working closely with Cambodian authorities to disrupt online scam compounds, with Cambodia’s anti-scam commission providing what FBI Co-Deputy Director Andrew Bailey described as “unprecedented access” to raided sites, according to a June 10th virtual press briefing hosted by the U.S. Department of State’s Asia Pacific Media Hub.
Bailey said the FBI’s legal attaché, or LEGAT, office in Phnom Penh has been cooperating with Cambodia’s Commission for Combating Online Scams, or CCOS, to share intelligence and dismantle scam centers. He said the evidence collected from raided compounds was “remarkable,” adding that the FBI would continue to encourage Cambodia to intensify efforts against criminal networks operating such sites.
“Our LEGAT office in Cambodia has worked closely with the Cambodian Commission for Combating Online Scams, or CCOS, in order to share intelligence and dismantle the scam centers there,” Bailey said. “CCOS has provided our LEGAT with unprecedented access to raided scam compounds.”
Bailey made the comments in response to a question about Cambodia’s crackdown on the local scam industry and concerns over sanctioned alleged scam bosses who have not faced legal proceedings in the country.
The comments come amid growing U.S. concern over Southeast Asia-based scam centers targeting Americans, including operations linked to Cambodia. In April, the U.S. Department of Justice said its Scam Center Strike Force had taken coordinated actions against Southeast Asian criminal organizations operating scam centers that defrauded Americans of billions of dollars, including the seizure of a Telegram channel used to recruit human trafficking victims to a scam compound in Cambodia.
Bailey said the FBI’s focus remains on disrupting and dismantling the criminal networks behind the compounds and protecting victims. The agency will continue to expand collaboration with CCOS and the Cambodian government, he added.
Bailey described scam compounds as part of a wider transnational organized crime threat across Southeast Asia, involving large-scale fraud, cryptocurrency exploitation, money laundering and human trafficking.
He said the FBI is using an intelligence-driven strategy focused not only on individual compounds, but also on major actors, hidden networks and “linchpins in the criminal ecosystem.”
