September 12, 2026

A Call for U.S. Accountability and International Enforcement

For Members of the U.S. Congress and Congressional Staff

September 2026

THE PROBLEM

Cambodia has become a major base for industrial-scale online fraud, cybercrime, human trafficking, forced criminality and money laundering targeting victims around the world—including Americans.

This is no longer simply a law-enforcement problem. It is a transnational organized-crime and U.S. national-security threat.

The U.S. Treasury reported that Americans lost more than $10 billion in 2024 to Southeast Asia-based scam operations, many involving forced labor and violence. In September 2025, Treasury sanctioned ten Cambodia-based targets connected to scam networks. (U.S. Department of the Treasury)

In April 2026, Treasury went further, designating Cambodian Senator Kok An and 28 individuals and entities in his network, describing him as controlling scam compounds throughout Cambodia. (U.S. Department of the Treasury)

These U.S. actions demonstrate the scale of the problem—and raise a fundamental question:

If the United States can identify and sanction the networks, why has Cambodia failed to dismantle them?

CAMBODIA IS NOT TAKING THE NECESSARY STEPS

Cambodian authorities have announced raids and crackdowns, but isolated raids are not dismantlement.

The U.S. State Department has previously documented serious institutional failures, including:

* failure to prosecute high-level officials, compound operators and complicit property owners;

* inadequate screening of trafficking victims;

* detention or deportation of potential trafficking victims;

* failure to shut down compounds even after authorities accessed them;

* failure to conduct broader investigations into the criminal networks;

* reports of official complicity and corruption surrounding scam operations. (State Department)

These findings point to a systemic problem: the authorities have often treated individual victims and low-level workers as the problem rather than pursuing the owners, financiers, organizers and protectors of the criminal enterprise.

WHAT A REAL DISMANTLEMENT REQUIRES

A credible Cambodian crackdown should meet internationally recognized law-enforcement standards and include:

1. IDENTIFY

Map every major scam compound, beneficial owner, operator, financier and protection network.

2. SECURE THE EVIDENCE

Provide unrestricted access for qualified investigators to compounds, computers, phones, servers, financial records and communications.

3. PROTECT VICTIMS

Screen workers for trafficking and forced criminality before arrest, detention or deportation.

4. FOLLOW THE MONEY

Freeze bank accounts and cryptocurrency, trace laundering networks and seize criminal proceeds.

5. DISMANTLE THE DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Seize or disable servers, websites, domains, recruitment platforms and communications systems used to conduct the fraud.

6. PROSECUTE THE LEADERS

Investigate and prosecute owners, financiers, organizers, traffickers, facilitators and corrupt officials—not merely workers operating computers.

7. SEIZE THE ASSETS

Pursue criminal forfeiture of compounds, businesses, real estate and other assets derived from scam proceeds.

8. PREVENT RELOCATION

Ensure that closed compounds do not simply reopen under another company, owner, location or SEZ.

9. ENABLE INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIONS

Allow U.S. and international investigators meaningful access to relevant sites and evidence.

10. REPORT RESULTS PUBLICLY

Publish credible data on compounds closed, victims rescued, assets frozen, prosecutions initiated, convictions obtained and senior-level actors held accountable.

WHY THIS MATTERS TO THE UNITED STATES

UNODC has warned that organized criminal groups operating scam centers in Southeast Asia are expanding and adapting as enforcement pressure increases. (UNODC)

The United States therefore cannot measure Cambodia’s cooperation by public statements, meetings or periodic raids.

The appropriate measure is whether Cambodia is actually dismantling the criminal ecosystem.

REQUEST TO THE U.S. CONGRESS

We respectfully urge Congress to:

• Demand measurable Cambodian action against scam compounds and the networks controlling them.

• Require meaningful U.S. and international investigative access to suspected scam centers, particularly where evidence of crimes against Americans may be located.

• Support aggressive financial investigations, asset seizures and prosecutions against Cambodia-based criminal networks.

• Hold senior organizers, financiers, facilitators and corrupt officials accountable, regardless of their political or economic status.

• Condition appropriate U.S. assistance, development cooperation and other forms of engagement on demonstrable progress in dismantling cybercrime and protecting trafficking victims.

• Strengthen U.S.-Cambodia law-enforcement cooperation only where Cambodia demonstrates genuine willingness to investigate and prosecute those at the top of the criminal hierarchy.

• Establish congressional oversight and regular reporting on Cambodia’s measurable progress.

THE BOTTOM LINE

A raid is not dismantlement. A rescued victim is not justice. A closed building is not the end of a criminal network.

The objective must be to dismantle the entire ecosystem—the compounds, leadership, money, technology, trafficking networks, facilitators and protection structures that allow industrial-scale cybercrime to operate.

Americans are being defrauded. Trafficked people are being forced to commit fraud. Criminal networks are generating billions of dollars.

Cambodia must demonstrate—not merely declare—a genuine commitment to dismantling this criminal industry.

The United States should demand nothing less.