Hun Sen’s ‘masterstroke’ leak pushes Cambodian cyber-crime up the international agenda

Thai PM's best chance for survival is cyber-crime crackdown

A suspected cybercrime compound is pictured in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, in this Sept 21, 2022 photo. (Reuters)

Hun Sen's leaking of a private conversation with Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was widely hailed as a "masterstroke."

In fact, Cambodia's strongman has simply succeeded in pushing the issue of organized, state-assisted cyber-crime up the international agenda, I argue in the Bangkok Post:

https://shorturl.at/zh8rR

Since I wrote the article, Cambodian government complicity in organized cyber-crime has been again confirmed in a major report by Amnesty International:

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/06/cambodia-government-allows-slavery-torture-flourish-inside-scamming-compounds/