Cambodia aims to shut down all online scam centers within weeks

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia hopes to shut down all of the country’s notorious online scam centers by the end of next month, the head of the Southeast Asian nation’s effort to combat the cybercrime said Wednesday. Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith, in charge of the Commission for Combating Online Scams, told The Associated Press in an interview that the government since July had targeted 250 locations believed to be carrying out the lucrative criminal activity, and has shut down about 80 percent, or 200, of them. He said police would carry out suppression activities after April in an attempt to keep the scam centers from reemerging. Cambodia has launched previous crackdowns against online scam centers but without major effect. “The real question is whether this effort targets the system that enables the industry, not just the buildings where scams happen,” commented Jacob Sims, an expert on transnational crime. “Past crackdowns in Cambodia have often left the financial and protection networks intact, allowing operations to quickly reconstitute.” “So far there are few signs t

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