Cambodia grants journalists access to former scam compound

Cambodian authorities granted journalists access to a large former scamming compound, offering a rare on-the-ground look at the kind of site that has drawn international concern over online fraud, human trafficking and forced labour.

Reporters were shown a self-contained complex that officials said had been used to run online scam operations. The visit was part of a wider government effort to demonstrate that it is dismantling such sites ahead of an international conference on combating online scams.

Inside a ‘city within a city’

Compounds like the one shown to media have been described as largely self-contained, with housing, offices and services concentrated behind walls. Investigators and rights groups say many workers inside such sites were trafficked or coerced, lured by false job offers and then trapped.

Scrutiny continues

While the government presented the access as evidence of progress, observers cautioned that showcasing a vacated compound does not by itself prove the underlying networks have been broken. Rights advocates called for continued attention to the fate of trafficking victims and for accountability for those who ran the operations.

Cambodia has faced sustained international pressure to act, and officials said enforcement would continue.