100 More VoIP Scammers Nabbed at Phnom Penh Hotspot

The Interior Ministry’s anti-terrorism department has arrested more than 100 additional Chinese nationals believed to be involved in an internet extortion scam, all found in the same apartment block where they detained 225 people three days earlier, a police official said.

Thou Saroeun, deputy director of the anti-terrorism department, said the latest arrests occured in a condominium in Tuol Kok district’s Boeng Kak II commune.

“The total now is 332 Chinese suspects, 58 of whom are women. We found them on Saturday,” he said. “They are living in the same condo.”

Boeng Kak II commune police chief Khun Khan Tith confirmed that the suspects arrested on Saturday were on another floor of the building.

Earlier this month, 200 Chinese nationals were arrested in Poipet City in Banteay Meanchey province for their involvement in another alleged fraud scheme using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, in which women in China were persuaded to send nude photographs of themselves.

Uk Heisela, chief of investigations of the Interior Ministry’s immigration department, said the group was being detained in the Siem Reap provincial immigration detention center and would be deported on Thursday.

“They will be deported on Thursday, but now I received another 33 Chinese from Tuol Kok who don’t have passports,” he said.

Lieutenant General Heisela was unsure whether the 33 were also involved in VoIP scams.

Wang Dexin, head of the political section of the Chinese Embassy, could not be reached for comment.

Last month, 24 Chinese nationals and seven Taiwanese citizens were arrested in three Phnom Penh districts for an alleged fraud also involving VoIP technology.

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