The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) recently published a study on the cyber scamming industry in Southeast Asia finds that a decision in 2022 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to delist Cambodia from its “gray list” of countries with deficient money-laundering controls has contributed to facilitating industrial-scale money laundering and strengthening the scamming industry there. The study, suggests that FATF should blacklist Cambodia in order to curb money-laundering and cyber-scamming.
Several analysts have highlighted their belief that next week’s official visit by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin represents a “good sign” for US-Cambodian relations. They suggested that while relations are improving, Austin’s visit is also an indication of the superpower’s growing focus on regional security.
