Cambodia approves draft law targeting cyberscammers

Cambodia’s government approved a draft law Friday that will hand down harsh sentences against fraudsters running cyberscam operations, a minster told AFP.

Cambodia has emerged as a hotspot for crime syndicates running a multibillion-dollar fraud industry that sees scammers lure internet users globally into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments.

Largely concentrated in Southeast Asia, the global cyberscam industry has reached “industrial proportions”, with estimates of its annual revenues as high as $64 billion, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.