Fake CBI Signboards, Picture Of Mahatama Gandhi: What Cambodia Found Inside Scam Centres

Pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, BR Ambedkar, fake signboards of the Central Bureau of Investigation, and the Indian flag were found inside an abandoned compound used by scammers for “digital arrest” operations in Cambodia.

The incident came to light when Cambodia closed nearly 200 scam centres in a crackdown on transnational fraud in recent weeks.

“There are about 190 locations that we have sealed off now,” Chhay Sinarith, senior minister and chair of Cambodia’s Commission for Combating Online Scams, told Reuters in Phnom Penh this week.

Visuals shared by Reuters online showed pictures of BR Ambedkar, Mahatama Gandhi and CBI signboards placed inside the scam centres.

Officials said the crackdown began late last year after the United States indicted

an alleged China-born alleged scam kingpin and China later extradited him, marking one of the strongest joint international actions against such criminal networks so far.

Since then, many people forced to work in the centres have fled in recent weeks in an attempt to return home. Amnesty International has described the situation as a “humanitarian crisis”, citing reports that some workers were kept in harsh and abusive conditions.

During a government-organised visit to a compound in Kampot, journalists were shown large rooms filled with rows of computers and desks covered in printed instructions on how to cheat Thai victims. The site also contained soundproof booths used for phone calls and a mock Indian police station set up to intimidate targets.

According to the authorities, no arrets were made inside the Kampot casino complex known as My Casino. The police also informed that several workers fled after the detention of the alleged operator and tycoon Ly Kuong.

Kampot provincial police chief Mao Chanmothurith said the province had only around 1,000 police officers and about 300 military police personnel. “Even together we could not stop them because around 6,000 to 7,000 people left at the same time,” he said.

Officials added that 173 senior crime figures connected to the scam centres have been arrested and about 11,000 workers deported as part of the campaign.

The visit came a week after Thai authorities also took journalists and foreign representatives to another compound across the border — an area previously bombed and occupied by Thai troops during a December border clash.