ASEAN Beat | Security | Southeast Asia

Vietnamese Police Disrupt Online Scam Operations Relocating From Cambodia

As Phnom Penh cracks down on cyber-fraud operations, Chinese criminal syndicates are hastily seeking out more accommodating jurisdictions.

Vietnamese police guard suspects arrested during a raid on an alleged transnational online scam operation in Phu Tho province, Vietnam, in June 2026.

Vietnamese authorities have in recent days disrupted two groups attempting to set up online ‌scamming operations in the north of the country, in what they suggested was a possible sign of overflow from the anti-scam crackdowns next door in Cambodia.

Police in Lao Cai province said yesterday that provincial investigators had recently raided a local hotel where a scam gang was attempting to establish a cyberfraud operation, the state media outlet Tuoi Tre reported.

The raid took place on Friday, right as the group began running scam operations, which targeted Chinese citizens seeking loans. “Members allegedly posed as employees of loan apps, instructed victims on application procedures, and then defrauded them of their money,” the report stated.

The gang comprised 19 Chinese nationals led by a man identified as Wang Xiangsheng, who had moved from Cambodia to Vietnam to engage in online scams.

Investigators were alerted to the operation when a group entered Vietnam from Cambodia, through the Moc Bai Border Gate in southern Vietnam, before traveling north to Lao Cai, which borders China.

All 19 were arrested during the raid. Police also seized 23 laptop computers, 26 mobile phones, eight 5G signal broadcasting devices, and a host of other equipment.

The raid was just the latest law enforcement action targeting new scam operations linked to Cambodia-based criminal syndicates. In recent years, Cambodia has become a hub of online fraud operations, which are run predominantly by Chinese criminal syndicates and rely on a huge corps of trafficked workers from across the globe. These operations have flourished due to alleged protection from senior government officials and prominent tycoons with close links to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party. At its height, the industry involved tens of thousands of trafficked workers, factory-sized scam compounds, and profits equivalent to as much as 40 percent of Cambodia’s GDP.

However, under pressure from both China and the United States, and paying a mounting reputational cost for its association with cyber-fraud, the Cambodian government has announced plans to root out the scamming industry.

While there have been questions about the legitimacy........

© The Diplomat