Fortresses of fraud: Lessons from an undercover visit to Cambodia’s scam centres

A line of sharp barbed wire spirals over a metal fence that appears to never end. The succession of serrated spikes piercing through the blue sky stretches for as far as the eye can see. 

Behind it are several large buildings. Austere. Functional. Fortified. Sturdy metal bars block each window. A tall gate flanked by checkpoints and manned with half a dozen guards ensures nothing — and no one — comes in or out without getting noticed. Several security cameras pointing inwards monitor everything that goes on behind the fence. 

Despite its appearance, this impenetrable fortress isn’t a high-security prison or a military facility. We’re in rural Cambodia. And this is a scam compound. 

Water buffaloes, green meadows and unpaved trails surround the compound. In such a setting, the gigantic structure should stand out. But it doesn’t. In this small pocket of the country alone, Blue Dragon has driven past at least a dozen compounds just like it. 

Throughout our journey across the country, in both remote locations and well-known coastal tourist destinations, we identify scores of scam centres operating in full swing, and tens more being built.

A lucrative industry rooted in human exploitation

The dozens of scam compounds witnessed by Blue Dragon are a small part of the more than 250 confirmed or suspected online fraud centres scattered across Cambodia. 

Behind the fortified walls and caged balconies are workers deploying elaborate ruses to dupe people globally into parting ways with their money. These include romance scams, fake crypto trading apps, fraudulent websites that mimic real banks and businesses, and call centres from which workers ring people around the world with the intention of gaining passwords or credit card details. The types of scams are endless.

Some of these workers may have joined these fraud factories willingly, driven by a lack of opportunities at home. But others are captive and being forced to conduct these scams under the threat of rape, violence and murder.

The United Nations estimates there are more than 100,000 human trafficking victims held in scam centres across Cambodia. Blue Dragon has rescued more than 140 people trafficked into forced scamming in this country and many more from Myanmar and Laos. They all share tales of torment and violence. Many were tortured.  

In plain sight

In coastal Sihanoukville, scam centres are such a visible part of the urban landscape that some have dubbed it Cambodia’s “scam city”. Just a few metres away from the white sand and pristine waters of the once touristy beach stands a district filled entirely with online fraud facilities. Some look like regular apartment buildings at a first glance, but the caged balconies, barred windows, guards, fencing and security cameras give away their real purpose. 

One of the compounds takes up an entire street block. On the ground floor, directly underneath the balconies wrapped in metal mesh, a succession of restaurants line the sidewalk. They would look like regular establishments if it weren’t for the metal bars running from floor to ceiling. From the outside, any passerby can stop and order a meal. Those trapped on the inside can do so as well, but they can never set foot on the street. 

Further north, near a now shuttered border crossing into Thailand, is another town. Except this isn’t a regular town. Here there aren’t any schools. There are no hospitals or public buildings. With the exception of some restaurants and shops, everything in sight here are scam compounds.

In this town, there are people coming and going, eating at restaurants and stocking up in the shops. There is no barbed wire, but every building is flanked by checkpoints and watchmen inspecting both vehicles and pedestrians, who have to identify themselves before being allowed passage. 

Here, many were willing to chat with us as long as they weren’t asked to share details about their work, which all described with euphemisms like “gaming” or “online work”. They walk around freely and all swear it’s a great place to work, but awkward looks and uncomfortable silences reveal there is more they aren’t saying. A worker who came out of one heavily guarded area to grab a quick snack described the place as “paradise” and praised his employer because they let him “come and go freely”, hinting that others aren’t so lucky.

In this scam site, we were able to interact with the most visible part of the workforce, but many others might have been locked away and hidden from sight.

The over 140 people Blue Dragon has rescued from exploitation in Cambodian scam centres had been deceived with seemingly legitimate job offers, only to be held captive, forced to commit these crimes, and tortured into compliance. Stories like Vinh’s, who was made to work for more than 15 hours a day and beaten with metal rods and deprived of food if he didn’t meet his scamming quotas, are common among the people Blue Dragon rescues.

Even for workers like the ones Blue Dragon spoke to at this scamming site, who appeared to have arrived willingly and enjoy some degree of freedom, there is often more to their stories. How free and willing can a worker be when their employer holds their passport, or when the consequence of underperformance is torture? 

The conversations Blue Dragon had with workers in these scam sites reinforced existing evidence that, in the online scamming industry, the lines between legitimate employment and exploitation are easily blurred. 

Construction boom

In some of the locations Blue Dragon visited in late 2025, forced online scamming appeared to be not just the dominant industry, but the only one. And new compounds were being erected everywhere we went.

In one place, at least four new compounds were being constructed. The choice of the word “compound” isn’t arbitrary. These aren’t single buildings but rather clusters of four, five, six and up to 14 separate structures. Accompanying infrastructure is built to support their work. In this remote, rural area, the only paved roads were those leading to these new compounds.  

Too big to fail?

Right outside one notorious scam compound on the outskirts of Sihanoukville, two young children wait patiently next to a tall pile of trash. Their parents are wading through the stacked up garbage bags dumped by the scam centre, hoping to salvage any food waste or valuable items left behind. 

Their desperation is just one of the many bleak reminders Blue Dragon encountered of how poverty and criminal wealth coexist across the country.

After years of exponential growth, the scam industry has blended with the local economy. Scamming and slavery appear to have become just another element of day-to-day Cambodian life. With the country remaining one of the poorest in Asia, it is hard to imagine how some communities would fare without this activity. 

Not far from the piled up bags of garbage in downtown Sihanoukville, a friendly coffee shop owner explained he moved his family there in search of economic opportunity following the pandemic-related drop in tourism. Many families like his migrated from all over the country with dreams of employment and prosperity.