One of the world’s largest scam compounds, complete with fake Australian Federal Police offices and workers wearing counterfeit uniforms to rip off Aussies out of millions, has been uncovered in Cambodia.
The sprawling former resort complex near the Thai-Cambodian border is believed to have been a major hub in a global fraud industry that lures victims into fake romances and cryptocurrency investments before draining their savings.
The practice, known in criminal circles as ‘pig butchering’, involves scammers grooming victims for months before stealing everything they can.
Inside the compound at O’Smach, investigators discovered a fake AFP office displaying an Australian flag, bogus police insignia and uniforms used to impersonate authorities while targeting victims overseas.
Other offices posed as law enforcement agencies from Singapore, China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brazil.
Whiteboards still displayed the names and phone numbers workers were ordered to call as part of industrial-scale scam operations.
Cybercrime expert Ken Gamble said the compound was part of a massive international fraud machine that continues to expand despite recent crackdowns.
‘Thousands of Australians fall victim to these scams every year,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
Meet the kingpin who’s been scamming your money in the world’s largest online fraud operation. The US-indicted scam tycoon Chen Zhi is hooded and shackled as he’s led off a plane in Beijing in January
Above, one of the fake offices inside the compound on the Thai-Cambodian border where a massive scamming operation has now been busted
An Australian flag in the centre where trafficked workers were forced to operate (left), and (right) a fake Indonesian police shirt inside a soundproofed booth in the former Cambodian resort
The complex near the Cambodian-Thai border in the town of O’Smach was uncovered when workers revolted last year against their overlords and tried to escape armed with metal rods.
‘It was happening before Covid, continued through Covid, and it’s only getting bigger. You find your ‘pig’, groom them, then butcher them by taking their money.’
Inside the abandoned buildings, investigators found soundproofed booths where trafficked workers allegedly spent long shifts making scam calls, along with scripts in multiple languages designed to trick victims around the world.
Initially focused on Chinese-speaking targets, crime syndicates have since expanded operations globally, stealing tens of billions of dollars annually.
Mr Gamble said a single operation like O’Smach could target victims in up to 75 countries, including Australia.
Workers inside these compounds are sometimes willing participants, but many are trafficked foreigners forced to work under threats of violence.
Royal Thai Police General Thatchai Pitaneelaboot described O’Smach as the largest scam compound authorities had ever been able to gather evidence from.
The operation was exposed after around 60 foreign workers, mostly Pakistani and Nepalese nationals, revolted against their bosses in early 2025 and attempted to escape armed with metal rods.
Thai troops later seized the site following weeks of armed clashes along the border, with officials saying the compound reflects Cambodia’s booming illicit scam industry built on trafficked labour.
Trafficked workers were forced to sit in soundproofed booths and make thousands of phone calls around the world to try to scam money from victims via romance or cryptocurrency ruses
A journalist tries on a counterfeit police shirt in the fake police office set up in the O’Smach buildings to facilitate the global scam operation.
Workers slept in dorms crammed with bunk beds and were poorly paid for long hours while trying to milk people around the world of their money. A Thai police officer in one of the offices used for the international romance and cryptocurrency scams operated by kingpin Chen Zhi.
The raid is part of a wider regional crackdown, including operations in the Cambodian border city of Bavet where more than 2,000 foreign nationals were detained in another online fraud bust.
Just last month, hundreds fled a suspected cyberfraud hub in Sihanoukville following the arrest and deportation of alleged scam kingpin Chen Zhi.
Chen, indicted in the United States over the multibillion-dollar fraud empire, was shown hooded and shackled as he was led from a plane in Beijing after being extradited to China, which has since ordered the liquidation of a bank linked to his network.
Chinese state media labelled him the leader of a major transnational gambling and fraud syndicate.
Mr Gamble said Chen’s transfer to China rather than the US could mean he faces execution.
China recently executed 11 members of another organised crime family linked to scam operations and the killing of trafficked workers attempting to escape.
