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Cambodian authorities have apprehended Kuong Li, a prominent businessman featured in a 2023 BBC Eye investigation into alleged online scam operations, as part of a broader crackdown on organized online fraud.
Kuong Li, a 50-year-old Cambodian national, faces charges of illegal recruitment for exploitation, aggravated fraud, organized crime, and money laundering related to alleged offenses committed in Cambodia and elsewhere since 2019.
On January 15, a court in Phnom Penh ordered his pre-trial detention pending further legal proceedings.
Kuong Li was a subject of The Pig Butchering Romance Scam, a BBC Eye investigation into accusations of human trafficking and fraud within scam compounds in Southeast Asia.
The program, which aired in March 2023, focused in part on the Huang Le compound, a property owned by Kuong Li in the coastal city of Sihanoukville.
The documentary presented the account of ‘Didi’, a Chinese man who claimed he was lured from his home with promises of a high-paying job, only to be trafficked to Cambodia and forced to work inside the walled compound.
Didi stated he was compelled to work from 20:00 to 08:00 local time (13:00 to 01:00 GMT), targeting victims in Europe and the United States, and was prohibited from leaving the premises.
He also shared secretly recorded footage with the BBC and the Global Anti-Scam Organisation (Gaso), a volunteer group dedicated to rescuing and supporting victims of trafficking.
In a video diary recorded within his dormitory, Didi recounted being told to “keep scamming as long as you’re alive,” and witnessing another victim being beaten and removed from the office after making an error.
Desperate, Didi attempted to escape by jumping from the third floor. He subsequently sought refuge in a safe house in Phnom Penh, before eventually returning to China.
Three years after the documentary’s release, he is now employed in a factory in southern China.
The investigation also included testimony from Mi Lijun, another Chinese man, who reported becoming severely ill while detained at the compound. He was discovered abandoned on a highway and transported to a hospital. The BBC obtained footage of his final hours before his death from organ failure.
The documentary identified Kuong Li as the owner of the Huang Le compound and reported that his business interests encompassed real estate, casinos, hotels, and construction companies. He had previously been awarded the royal honorific title ‘Oknha’ and had been photographed alongside senior officials at public and private events.
The BBC presented these allegations to Kuong Li and the Sihanoukville province police. Neither party responded to the request for comment prior to the documentary’s broadcast.
However, in April 2023, Cambodian authorities issued a letter in response to the program, confirming Kuong Li as the owner of the Huang Le compound but dismissing the allegations as “groundless.”
The letter stated that an investigation led by the Department of Anti-Commercial Gambling Crime on February 8, 2023, “found no sign of forced captivity or torture” and asserted that the documentary did not accurately reflect what it described as the authorities’ “utmost efforts” to prevent and eliminate all forms of human trafficking.
Kuong Li also denied the allegations in interviews with Cambodian media outlets.
In June 2023, Kuong Li was granted the title ‘Neak Oknha’, one of Cambodia’s highest royal honorifics, a rank above his previous title of ‘Oknha’.
While Kuong Li remains in pre-trial detention, Cambodian authorities indicate that investigations are ongoing into broader networks connected to organized online fraud.
The Secretariat of the Commission for Combating Cybercrime stated that Cambodian courts handled 37 major cases between 2025 and mid-January 2026, resulting in the conviction of 172 ringleaders and accomplices.
One notable case involved the extradition of Chen Zhi earlier this year. The Chinese businessman and billionaire is accused of masterminding a vast online scam network, trafficking workers into forced labour camps to defraud victims globally.
The action was widely interpreted as a sign that Phnom Penh was responding to increasing international pressure to address scam compounds and associated financial crimes operating within its borders.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Hun Manet stated on Facebook that Cambodia considers “fighting tech-savvy crimes” a priority and aims at “eliminating all negative issues related to online scam crimes.”
The United Nations estimates that hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked to Southeast Asia – often to Cambodia – with promises of lucrative employment, only to be forced to conduct online scams under harsh conditions inside confined compounds.
Across the region, governments have initiated parallel crackdowns on online scam operations and the financial networks that support them.
In Thailand, authorities have intensified investigations into money laundering connected to scam centers, seizing assets and arresting suspects accused of transferring illicit funds through banks, cryptocurrency platforms, and shell companies.
Meanwhile, in Myanmar, authorities have conducted raids on several high-profile scam hubs, detaining thousands of individuals and dismantling facilities accused of running large-scale online fraud schemes.
Many of these sites had been linked to transnational criminal networks operating across multiple countries in the region.
Firm which part-funded Sunninghill Park purchase received “allegedly corrupt” payments, court documents say.
The release is part of a new ceasefire deal after weeks of deadly clashes along the Thai-Cambodia border.
The ceasefire took effect at noon local time (05:00 GMT) on Saturday.
Almost one million people were displaced when hostilities resumed earlier this month after the first truce broke.
Cambodia accuses Thailand of “indiscriminate attacks”, as negotiators meet for a third day to try to end weeks of renewed fighting.
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