UK Home Office Minister Attends International Conference on Combating Online Scams in Cambodia

H.E. Lord Hanson, Minister of State for the Home Office, will attend the International Conference on Combating Online Scams from Sept. 22 to 24 in Cambodia, according to a press release from the British Embassy in Cambodia issued on Tuesday. He will meet Cambodian government counterparts and the wider international community to discuss this issue of shared concern and set out how the UK will work alongside Cambodia to tackle it. He will also meet UN agencies and independent journalists, whose brave work played an important role in creating the evidence base for international action against scam centres. Cambodia has taken significant and welcome steps in recent months to confront scam operations within its borders, including new legislation, sustained enforcement action, and the creation of a dedicated commission to lead its national response. The UK recognises the scale of this challenge, and the effort Cambodia has invested in facing it, and is proud to stand alongside Cambodia as a partner in this work. Alongside the U.S., the UK has taken coordinated action to disrupt criminal networks operating scam centres across Southeast Asia, including sanctions that have frozen more than £125 million (approximately US$167 million) in assets and supported wider investigations across the region. This forms part of a broader international effort, alongside partners including the U.S., Australia, Singapore and others attending this week’s conference, to turn growing global cooperation into meaningful results for victims. During the visit, the UK and Cambodia will sign a new Memorandum of Understanding. Built on ongoing collaboration, the agreement will support closer intelligence sharing, financial and digital investigations, and stronger protections for victims of trafficking linked to scam operations. It reflects a shared determination between the two countries to turn growing cooperation into real, lasting results and to support accountability for those organising and enabling the international criminal networks behind online fraud. “Fraud is a truly global threat, which leaves a devastating human impact in its wake – from the defrauded victims who lose everything they’ve spent a lifetime building to the trafficked victims who lose their freedom and are mistreated, tortured and even killed. No country can tackle this threat alone,” H.E. Lord Hanson, Minister of State for the Home Office, said in the press release. “Cambodia has shown determination in confronting the criminal networks operating from within its borders, and I’m proud that the UK can stand alongside our Cambodian partners to ensure we hold all those responsible for these terrible crimes to account,” he added. This agreement is about building something practical and lasting: sharing intelligence, tracing dirty money, and above all protecting the people, on every side, who are harmed by this crime. “I’m grateful to the Government of Cambodia for its leadership in bringing us together this week, and I look forward to what we can achieve together in the months ahead,” he said. Online scams are a shared, global challenge. Criminal networks in the region target victims across the world, including in the UK, while trafficking vulnerable people and forcing them into fraud against their will. “By working together, and combining the strengths each country brings, the UK and Cambodia hope to protect more people from these harms,” read the press statement. This visit marks a new chapter in the UK and Cambodia’s work together, and forms part of the UK’s wider effort to deepen fraud-fighting partnerships across the Indo-Pacific, including through the INTERPOL Global Fraud Taskforce. Both countries are committed to turning today’s agreement into lasting, practical results, for victims here in Cambodia, in the UK, and around the world. By Chea Vannak