UK and Cambodia Sign MoU to Combat Southeast Asian Scam Compound Networks
UK and Cambodia Sign MoU to Combat Southeast Asian Scam Compound Networks #
The United Kingdom and Cambodia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding committing both countries to joint action against illegal online scam centres, fraud operations concentrated in Southeast Asia that cause large-scale financial harm globally.
The MoU was signed on 23 September during a visit to Phnom Penh by Lord Hanson, the UK’s Minister of State for the Home Office and Minister for Fraud, who attended Cambodia’s International Conference on Combating Online Scams. A UK government announcement described the agreement as the first formal framework the two countries have established for joint working on scam centre networks.
Under the agreement, UK and Cambodian authorities will increase data sharing, coordinate financial and digital investigations, and strengthen protections for trafficking victims coerced into working at scam compounds. The compounds rely on trafficked foreign nationals lured with promises of legitimate employment before being forced to conduct online fraud under threat of violence. One common tactic is fake romantic relationships used to manipulate victims into transferring money, a scheme known as “pig butchering.”
The MoU follows earlier enforcement cooperation between the two governments. In October 2025, the UK and United States jointly sanctioned the Prince Group, its chairman Chen Zhi, and associated entities including the Jin Bei Group and Byex Exchange, for operating scam networks across the region. Those sanctions froze more than £125 million in UK-based assets, including a £12 million mansion in north London and a £100 million office building in the City of London. During his visit, Lord Hanson also toured the former Golden Fortune scam compound, which Cambodian authorities had dismantled following that enforcement action.
The agreement is also linked to the UK government’s Fraud Strategy, backed by £250 million, which established an Online Crime Centre bringing together law enforcement, intelligence agencies, banks, and technology firms. Government figures indicate one in fourteen adults and one in four businesses have been victims of fraud. Lord Hanson noted that more than two-thirds of fraud affecting the UK originates outside the country.
Officials described the agreement as part of the UK’s wider effort to build fraud-fighting partnerships across the Indo-Pacific, including through the INTERPOL Global Fraud Taskforce. Lord Hanson signed the MoU alongside His Excellency Sar Sokha, Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior.
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