Cambodia-China solidify partnership to stop online gambling scams

Cambodia and China solidify their partnership with an agreement to improve their joint efforts to stop online gambling and telecommunications scams. This very productive deal was announced to the public last week, when Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Cambodia to participate in the Association of South-East Asian Nations.

New agreement:

This particular topic was brought up during conversation between Premier Li and Cambodia’s prime minister Hun Sen, because the main goal of both countries is to improve security ties and safety of its people.

In the past few years, Cambodia has become a nest for cyber slavery crimes with China’s traffickers luring unsuspecting victims from every Asian country and forcing them to work for criminal syndicates, specifically in operations related to illegal gambling.

“Law enforcement cooperation is to be furthered with highlights on combating human trafficking, online gambling, telecom fraud and related heinous crimes, facilitated by closer cooperation in capacity building and information exchanges,” according to the joint statement.

Beside fighting against cyber criminals, the agreement involves encouraging cooperation on trade, infrastructure projects, tourism and increasing direct flights between countries.

Illegal online gambling in Cambodia:

In 2020, Cambodia officially stopped issuing and renewing online gaming licences for online gaming operators in and outside of the country. Since then, the authorities intensified their investigations into illegal online gambling sites in order to reveal scams aimed at extorting money from unsuspecting victims.

The country has one of the biggest licensed casino industry. Out of 171 casino operators, only 87 of them succeeded in renewing its gaming license in 2022, due to law mentioned above.

Illegal online gambling in China:

As traditional gambling moves online, Chinese authorities have trouble with locating and arresting illegal gambling operators.

However, they fight against it by specifically targeting online casino operators who used internet platforms to get around the country’s laws against gambling.

Miao Shengming, head of the first prosecutor’s office at the Supereme’s People’s Procuratorate, said: “Criminals used the internet technology such as software and platforms to connect gamblers, casinos and their proxies.”

China-Vietnam agreement:

This agreement between Cambodia and China was a week after China has signed a similar agreement with Vietnam.

The agreement includes their joint fight against “cross-border gambling,” among several law enforcement topics such as drug crime, cybercrime, terrorism, human trafficking and high-tech crime.

Also, this agreement includes China’s obligation to promote Vietnam as the most sought-after tourist destination, but in line with the pandemic prevention policy.