Cambodia Arrests Alleged Scam Kingpin Exposed in BBC Investigation

Cambodian authorities have arrested a prominent businessman previously named in a BBC Eye investigation into alleged online scam operations, as the government intensifies efforts to clamp down on organised cyber fraud.

Kuong Li, a 50-year-old Cambodian national, was taken into custody and charged with illegal recruitment for exploitation, aggravated fraud, organised crime and money laundering in connection with alleged offences committed in Cambodia and abroad since 2019. A court in Phnom Penh ordered on January 15 that he be held in pre-trial detention pending further proceedings.

Kuong Li was featured in The Pig Butchering Romance Scam, a BBC Eye documentary broadcast in March 2023, which examined allegations of human trafficking and fraud within scam compounds across Southeast Asia. The programme focused in part on the Huang Le compound in the coastal city of Sihanoukville, which investigators identified as being owned by Kuong Li.

The documentary included testimony from trafficking victims, including a Chinese national identified as “Didi”, who said he was lured to Cambodia with promises of a well-paid job but was instead forced to work long hours targeting victims in Europe and the United States. He alleged he was confined to the compound, threatened, and witnessed violence against other workers. In desperation, he said he attempted to escape by jumping from a third floor.

Another victim, Mi Lijun, told the BBC he fell seriously ill while being held at the compound and later died from organ failure after being abandoned on a highway. The BBC obtained footage of his final hours.

At the time of the documentary’s release, Cambodian authorities rejected the allegations, describing them as “groundless” and saying investigations had found no evidence of forced detention or torture. Kuong Li also denied the claims in local media interviews and was later awarded a higher royal honorific title in June 2023.

However, authorities now say the arrest forms part of a broader crackdown on organised online fraud. The Commission for Combating Cybercrime said courts handled 37 major cybercrime cases between 2025 and mid-January 2026, resulting in the conviction of 172 ringleaders and accomplices.

Investigations into wider scam networks are ongoing, officials said, amid mounting international pressure on Cambodia to dismantle fraud operations and human trafficking rings operating within its borders.