Transnational Organised Crime Meets Embedded Corruption: Cambodia’s Role in Southeast Asia’s Online Scam Epidemic

Over the past few years, Cambodia has emerged as a major centre of the multi-billion-dollar online scam industry that is plaguing Southeast Asia. While the rise in cyber-scams has received significant media coverage, the local contexts that have allowed this industry to thrive have received less attention. This essay suggests that the rise in transnational organised crime in Cambodia reflects how deeply illicit money is embedded within the patronage system of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and how it represents an evolution of the kind of corruption that has flourished during its more than four decades in power. By anchoring the analysis in historical patterns of corruption, the essay elucidates how closely illicit and legal capital are entwined within the country’s political economy.