Twelve Chinese nationals were arrested on Monday in Phnom Penh for their alleged involvement in a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephone extortion scheme, police said Tuesday.
Y Sokhy, chief of the intelligence department of the Interior Ministry, said that police had been tracking the suspects for more than a month before moving to arrest them.
“Yesterday [Monday] at 1:30 p.m., we went to crack down on them at a house they were renting in Toek La’ak I commune in Tuol Kok district,” Major General Sokhy said.
Dozens of Chinese and Taiwanese citizens have been arrested here and deported in the past two years over similar scams, often involving telephoning victims in China and telling them their bank accounts had been breached and they must transfer their funds.
It was unclear Tuesday whether the 12 who were apprehended on Monday were part of a larger ring of fraudsters.
However, Maj. Gen. Sokhy noted that 28 people were arrested in November for telecommunications fraud in Toek La’ak.
