The arrests of two alleged ringleaders of transnational scam networks in Cambodia have led to thousands of workers—many of them trafficked—being let go from compounds across the country, one of the biggest shake-ups to date of the so-called pig-butchering industry.
But the government’s actions fall short of what experts say is needed to eradicate an illicit industry that has become deeply rooted in Cambodia and has stolen billions of dollars from Americans in recent years. The criminal activity has been dubbed pig-butchering because the perpetrators slowly build relationships with victims before stealing their money.
On Jan. 6, Cambodian authorities arrested Chen Zhi, the chairman of Cambodian conglomerate Prince Group, whom the U.S. sanctioned and indicted in October for allegedly running one of Asia’s largest transnational pig-butchering networks. The 38-year-old Chen was extradited to his native China the following day at Beijing’s request.
Just over a week later, Cambodian authorities took into custody Ly Kuong, 49, a Cambodian casino and real-estate tycoon, and charged him with fraud, money laundering and exploitation of illegally recruited workers.
Neither Chen nor Ly Kuong could be reached for comment and the Chinese Embassy didn’t respond to a request for comment. Both men have previously denied any involvement with cyberscams or human trafficking. Lawyers for Chen and Prince Group in the U.S. didn’t respond to requests for comment.
According to estimates cited by U.S. prosecutors, the Cambodian scam industry generates annual revenues of up to $19 billion, equivalent to more than one-third of the country’s gross domestic product. Southeast Asian scam networks stole some $10 billion from Americans in 2024, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Before the recent crackdown, Cambodia was home to more than 250 scam compounds, many of them staffed by foreigners lured to the country with false promises of lucrative jobs and then forced to run online romance, investment and other scams for little or no pay, analysts say. The United Nations estimated in 2023 that some 100,000 workers had been trafficked into Cambodian scam centers.
In the hours and days after the arrests, chaotic scenes unfolded in scam compounds across Cambodia, according to former workers interviewed by The Wall Street Journal and videos from at least 15 known compounds verified by Amnesty International.
Crowds of workers, many pulling suitcases or carrying their belongings in plastic bags, suddenly found themselves free to go. The Indonesian Embassy in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh said more than 2,750 workers sought support to return to their homeland between Jan. 16 and 29, with dozens sleeping on the streets outside the embassy building.
The embassy said it had assessed reports from about half of the workers and none of them had been identified as victims of human trafficking. That assessment contradicts accounts from workers interviewed by the Journal and accounts cited by human-rights groups. The embassy, which has warned about the risk to Indonesians of being trafficked into Cambodian scam centers, said it would share its assessments with relevant agencies, including law enforcement, in Indonesia.
Lines that stretched for more than a block also formed outside the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh earlier in January. Workers of other nationalities, including from African countries that don’t have embassies in Cambodia, appealed for help with repatriation at the local office of the International Organization for Migration, a U.N. agency.
Mohamad Nasrul, a 28-year-old Indonesian, said he fled a scam compound in the town of Bavet on Cambodia’s border with Vietnam on the night of Jan. 19.
“I was eating dinner when people suddenly started running out of the compound. I immediately went to get my clothes and followed them,” he said. “I didn’t know what was happening. No one announced that we were allowed to leave.”
Nasrul said he had been tricked into traveling to Cambodia in December, following vague promises of a well-paying job. Instead, he said he found himself confined in a heavily guarded compound and forced to scam Indonesian businessmen in Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and other Asian countries. He said he was ordered to bring in $5,000 a month.
“I was punched and slapped because I didn’t meet the target of finding customers,” he said, adding that he saw another worker beaten and punished with electric shocks. “They told me that if I couldn’t meet the target within three months, they would sell me to another place, and it would be even worse.”
Nasrul said that the men who tricked him took his passport and that he had sought his embassy’s help in obtaining papers that would allow him to leave the country. He said he was worried he could face criminal charges once he got to Indonesia.
“I was forced to scam people. It was not my choice,” he said. “If there had been any way, I would have run away.”
Cambodian officials have said the arrests of Chen and Ly Kuong are part of a continuing crackdown on the scam industry. But analysts who have researched scam networks in the country said more needed to be done to investigate Cambodian businessmen and government officials suspected of criminal activity.
In 2024, the U.S. sanctioned Ly Yong Phat, a Cambodian senator and businessman, for alleged human-rights abuses linked to transnational scams and human trafficking. Thailand has indicted another senator, Kok An, for alleged scam activity. Cambodian authorities haven’t announced any investigations into either official.
“You don’t see large-scale arrests of important people,” said Jacob Sims, a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Asia Center who last year published a report on connections between Cambodian government officials and scam networks. “You’re not seeing all of the compounds emptied out and it’s not really fully clear how many people have been released and which ones.”
Kok An, who hasn’t previously addressed the Thai charges, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Ly Yong Phat couldn’t be reached for comment, while his company LYP Group, which was also sanctioned by the U.S., declined to comment. The Cambodian government in 2024 rejected the U.S. sanctions against Ly Yong Phat as “baseless.”
Neth Pheaktra, Cambodia’s information minister, didn’t respond to questions on whether authorities have investigated Ly Yong Phat or Kok An. “Cambodia applies zero tolerance toward online scams and human trafficking,” he said in a statement. “Investigations are conducted on the basis of evidence and due process, including financial investigations and international cooperation. There is no immunity for any network or individual found to be involved.”
Write to Gabriele Steinhauser at Gabriele.Steinhauser@wsj.com