The State of Cambodia's Online Scamming Industry

Scotsman Nathan Paul Southern is the Operations Director of the Eyewitness Project and an investigative reporter specializing in global conflict, transnational crime, and corruption, primarily in Southeast Asia.Based in Cambodia, he investigates the intersection of war and criminality, uncovering the networks and power structures that drive conflict and illicit activity around the world.Southern spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about the Cambodian government’s crackdown on organized crime and those who were trafficked or duped into the country and then forced to work in scam compounds.He says the government is still struggling with its crackdown given the sheer scale of the scam compounds, which have also frightened off tourists and foreign investors while remaining a thorn in the side of relations with Thailand.Cambodia and Thailand fought a bitter border war last year, which had its roots in organized crime, and government insiders on both sides of the closed border say they fear a return to hostilities is possible. After a recent trip to the border, Southern agrees.“I was last there about two months ago, we had warning shots fired… there were shots coming over from the border, and we've been told that those shots are happening daily. There was an incident last week when four Cambodian soldiers were injured in an explosion," he said.“We're also hearing from various parts of the country that the Thais are actually still flying fighter jets into Cambodian territory. They’re not dropping anything.“But they are flying in. So the risk of conflict is incredibly high and it doesn't take a centralized decision for this to escalate. It just takes one side to shoot back on these warning shots or something to be fired over the border and we're back there again,” Southern added said.