UK, Cambodia pledge practical action against transnational scam networks

UK Minister of State for the Home Office Lord Hanson of Flint is attending an anti-scam conference in Phnom Penh. Supplied

The UK and Cambodia have opened a new chapter in cooperation against transnational online scam networks, pledging practical action to dismantle criminal operations, protect victims and address the trafficking of people forced to commit fraud.

UK Minister of State for the Home Office Lord Hanson is in Cambodia, where he is attending the International Conference on Combating Online Scams, being held from September 22 to 24, according to the British embassy in Phnom Penh.

The visit comes as criminal networks operating across the region increasingly target victims worldwide, including people in the UK, while exploiting vulnerable individuals trafficked into scam operations and compelled to carry out fraudulent activities.

“Online scams are a shared, global challenge. Criminal networks in the region target victims across the world, including in the UK, while trafficking vulnerable people and forcing them into fraud against their will,” the embassy said.

The new partnership is expected to strengthen cooperation between the two countries and combine their respective capabilities to disrupt criminal networks and reduce the harm caused to victims in Cambodia, Britain and elsewhere.

Lord Hanson welcomed Cambodia’s leadership in hosting the international conference and expressed confidence that the gathering would contribute to stronger cooperation in the coming months.

“I’m grateful to the Government of Cambodia for its leadership in bringing us together this week, and I look forward to what we can achieve together in the months ahead,” he said.

The embassy described the visit as a “new chapter” in UK-Cambodia cooperation, as Britain seeks to deepen fraud-fighting partnerships across the Indo-Pacific.

The initiative also forms part of the UK’s wider engagement through the INTERPOL Global Fraud Taskforce, which brings together international law enforcement partners to combat increasingly sophisticated cross-border fraud.

Both governments have committed to translating the agreement into lasting and practical results, including stronger protection for people harmed by scam operations.

The partnership is particularly significant because online scam networks often combine several forms of organised crime.

In addition to defrauding victims overseas, some operations recruit workers through deceptive job advertisements before confining them and forcing them to conduct online fraud.

The three-day conference brings together governments and other international partners to discuss coordinated responses to the rapidly expanding scam industry, which Cambodia has repeatedly highlighted “cannot be effectively addressed by any single country acting alone”.

-Phnom Penh Post-
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