Five associations that represent the victims of scams have written to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (pictured) to demand tougher sanctions against Cambodian officials that have allowed scam compounds to proliferate. In addition to causing billions of dollars of crime, there have been numerous accounts of the brutalization of people that were lured into working for these compounds in the belief they were being recruited for legitimate IT jobs.
Instances of sexual abuse, torture, and murder as instruments of control used at these scam compounds have been documented by your Department. Of particular concern is the Government of Cambodia. The State Department has acknowledged that Cambodia is an epicenter of this organized crime, with an estimated 10,000 cybercrime slaves held in that country. The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights estimate is 10 times higher; with as many as 100,000 people believed to be held against their will in scam call centers in Cambodia.
Organized crime on this scale is not possible without the aid and protection of corrupt government and political elites. Indeed, such collaboration has been documented by independent observers.
The letter has been copied to a string of elected politicians and was signed by representatives of the Global Anti-Scam Organization (GA-SO), the Public International Cybercrime Disruption Organization (PICDO), The Eyewitness Project, Advocating Against Romance Scammers (AARS), and The Fraud Victim Rights Organization (FVRO). It follows similar demands made to Antony Blinken, the previous Secretary of State, in 2024. Blinken reportedly introduced some minor additional sanctions that then encouraged the Cambodian police to engage in a few anti-scam operations for publicity purposes. However, the new letter to Rubio complains that insufficient action was taken by the Biden administration and the Cambodian government.
…the previous Administration pursued a policy of appeasement with the Cambodian Government in hopes of isolating it from Chinese influence. Specifically, President Biden issued waivers for Cambodia in each year sanctions were mandated under TVPA [Trafficking Victims Protection Act].
In 2024, our and other organizations conducted a public awareness campaign aimed at driving letters and phone calls to key Members of Congress about this flaccid appeasement policy. Under pressure, the Biden administration relented and issued financial sanctions against a key Cambodian political figure with alleged ties to scam compounds. The White House later allowed limited TVPA sanctions.
It has since become clear that the Cambodian Government has not taken the threat of additional escalating sanctions seriously. There have only been a few, obviously performative, raids by Cambodian police.
Rubio is reminded that he can exert much more pressure on Cambodia than Blinken ever did.
If the Government of Cambodia is not willing to cease support for, and protection of, transnational criminal groups that defraud our citizens, this Administration must exact a disproportionate cost, including:
- Revoking Cambodia’s TVPA sanctions waiver and applying the full range of mandatory TVPA sanctions;
- Instituting additional financial, travel, and other sanctions against individuals and businesses
linked to scam compounds; and- Application of crippling trade sanctions.
You can read the full text of the letter here. Advice for Americans who would like to lobby politicians about these issues is provided here.
