Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭
@jacobincambodia • 43,380 subscribers
Child protection advisor/researcher based in Cambodia. Covering crime and the scam industry in Cambodia and Southeast Asia. US Marine vet. Signal @durian.67
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Indonesian scam workers have reportedly fled a compound in Thmor Da, Veal Veng district, Pursat province, according to Cambodian media. One Indonesian worker was quoted saying goodbye to Cambodia, noting that routes used for online scam operations were cut off due to the situation with Thailand and multiple Thai strikes on scam compounds in the area. Reports suggest that the disruption has also led to the release or escape of a number of trafficked workers who had been sold into scam operations.
Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭1,725,687 Aufrufe • vor 5 Monaten
Bangkok woman outsmarts machete-wielding stalker who followed her home A man high on drugs followed a woman up the stairs to her rented room in Bangkok's Taling Chan district on March 20, shoving through the door the moment she unlocked it. He was carrying a 50cm machete. Once inside he barricaded the door with furniture, kicked her younger brother out, and ordered her to undress. She told him people were waiting downstairs. When he turned to check, she grabbed a blanket and ran. Police arrived to find the suspect out on the second-floor balcony holding the blade to his own chest. After a long standoff he asked for water. Officers moved in during the handoff, but he slipped and fell from the balcony before they could grab him. Hip injury, taken to Siriraj Hospital. He told police he'd been using heavily and was hallucinating.
Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭560,967 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
Video footage from yesterday’s massive raid in Bavet. Police deployed 700 officers and arrested 2,044 foreign nationals at the A7 Global Resort compound. Breakdown: 1,792 Chinese, 177 Vietnamese, 179 Myanmar, 36 Indian, 30 Nepali, 5 Taiwanese, 2 Lao, 1 Malaysian, 1 Mexican.
Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭876,560 Aufrufe • vor 4 Monaten
Vietnamese state TV aired the confessions of the Samoan hitmen who killed a Sydney crime boss in Saigon last week. One of them, on camera. “Escaping from the Vietnamese police was impossible. I would like to advise anyone who intends to come to Vietnam to commit crimes to abandon that idea immediately, because you will be arrested by the Vietnamese police.” They were caught almost 500 km west in Sihanoukville, by Cambodian police, on a request from Vietnam. More on the story below.
Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭65,009 Aufrufe • vor 10 Tagen
49 arrests, 687 phones, and a hotel full of Malaysian SIM cards Phnom Penh police raided the Jinbian Mendu Hotel in Sen Sok yesterday afternoon and arrested 49 people. The operation, carried out on orders from Phnom Penh Governor Khuong Sreng and Police Commissioner Chuon Narinth, seized 92 computers, 687 mobile phones, and a stash of Malaysian SIM cards. The group had reportedly just relocated from Tboung Khmum province and was running fake investment scams targeting victims in Malaysia. Suspects include Chinese, Malaysian, Vietnamese, and Myanmar nationals. One Cambodian woman was also detained. Police say they're now working to identify the ringleaders behind the operation.
Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭437,466 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
A New 957-Room Chinese Hotel Just Opened in the City Chinese Investors Are Leaving Huan Hai Hotel has opened on Ocheuteal Beach in Sihanoukville. It is the centerpiece of Huanhai Bolai International, a $168 million Chinese-held development approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia in late 2022, built by the state-owned Chinese contractor Shanghai Baoye and promoted as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. The 957-room, five-star tower is now operating, its facade lit at night and fountains running at the entrance. It is also hiring. A recruitment notice lists roles from sales and marketing to Chinese-language translators, with monthly salaries of $800 to $1,500, well above the local norm for hospitality work. The pay points to a property aimed squarely at Chinese guests. The timing is what stands out. CamboJA reported in April that a second wave of Chinese departures has followed the anti-scam crackdown that began in late 2025, and a property consultant cited by the outlet estimated that around 400 buildings remain stalled across downtown Sihanoukville. The same consultant was direct about the cause. Scam compounds had become a major source of occupancy and economic activity in the city, and dismantling them removes much of the demand those towers were built to serve. That is the environment Huan Hai is entering. Most of the large compounds are gone, with some smaller operations reportedly still active, but the city is quiet and its reputation is slower to recover. Drawing Chinese tourists and investors back will take more than a single crackdown. It will require an effort sustained long enough, and visibly enough, that the scam industry does not simply return once attention moves elsewhere.
Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭16,013 Aufrufe • vor 3 Tagen
WATCH: This is the moment Phnom Penh police ran down the suspect in the Ly Ly killings. A transgender woman known online and the taxi driver hired to move her body, both found sealed under concrete in a Chroy Changvar drain after 10 days missing. Full story down below.
Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭15,584 Aufrufe • vor 4 Tagen
A brawl reportedly broke out at the immigration holding center near Phnom Penh's old airport this evening. Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese detainees brawled and smashed electric fans, until gendarmes ran in with electric batons. Surprised there haven't been more issues there.
Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭90,699 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
A troubling scene from the Thai Cambodian border today. As tension flared and artillery activity sounded across the line, a primary school in Oddar Meanchey told its students to leave immediately. Children hurried out of the building after hearing the noise from the front, moving quickly to get to safety.
Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭335,393 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten
Japanese Man Goes Berserk at Phnom Penh Massage Shop After Alleged $2,000 Cash Switch A Japanese husband and wife walked into a massage shop on Street 172 in Daun Penh district at 1:20am on April 26 and walked out $2,000 short. The masseuse allegedly switched their cash, locked the door, and disappeared. Video of the aftermath shows the husband stomping on the shop's sign, slamming the doors, and screaming. Locals say it's not the first time. Multiple residents claim the same shop has been fleecing foreign customers for months, with no visible response from authorities.
Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭79,944 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
Chinese National Held Near Pattaya With C4 Vests, Three Passports, And Training Clips From Cambodia Thai police arrested a 31-year-old Chinese national, Sun Mingchen, after a search of his rented house off Huai Yai in Bang Lamung turned up nearly 5kg of C4, three bulletproof vests, two M16 assault rifles, four Russian POMZ-2 anti-personnel mines, grenades of Korean, Burmese, and other origin, remote detonators, gas masks, and four jerry cans of gasoline. Some of the 5.56mm rounds carried the LOT RTA marking from the Royal Thai Army Ammunition Plant. The Royal Thai Police Commissioner-General has ordered a full investigation. The Chinese Embassy, Immigration, EOD, and national security agencies are all involved. According to The Pattaya News, Sun's phone contained training videos of him handling firearms and grenades alongside Cambodian soldiers at BHQ 911 - a military bodyguard unit. The same phone reportedly held ChatGPT queries about attacking "important locations" and the destructive power of C4. Daily News describes the phone evidence in broader terms, citing search history on sabotage methods, explosives, and weapon modification, with the training clips linked to overseas locations now under verification. Sun holds passports from China, Cambodia, and Dominica, the last reportedly investment-linked, plus a Thai pink non-citizen ID, a Thai national ID number, and a registered address in Khlong Sam Wa, Bangkok. He has been in Thailand since 2020, mostly on tourist visas, and re-entered on 27 January 2026 on an elite visa. He had been renting the Bang Lamung house for two years at 38,000 baht a month, and previously lived in Chiang Mai. Sun told police he ran a liquor shop in Cambodia before moving to Thailand. Police say they are still tracing how he obtained the passports, the IDs, the weapons, and the explosives. Sun told officers he was depressed and had bought the cache through online groups with pickup in Rayong, planning to use it on himself. Investigators are not buying it. The arrest started with a single-vehicle crash near Na Jomtien on Friday evening; Sun was in the car with a 33-year-old Taiwanese woman, Ma Yu-Hsin. Police searched the vehicle, found a Glock 26 with magazines, and obtained a warrant for the Bang Lamung residence. Both are in custody.
Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭55,689 Aufrufe • vor 28 Tagen
Mass Breakout at Poipet Scam Compound, Police Fire Warning Shots Foreigners flooded out of a suspected scam compound in Poipet this afternoon, pouring through the gate in a mass escape that police could not contain. Officers fired warning shots into the air as the crowd scattered through the streets. The raid was led by General Hem Sovuthy, Deputy Commissioner General of the National Police, in coordination with Banteay Meanchey provincial police.
Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭79,520 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
Another Range Rover, another Chinese scam boss out of control on the Sihanoukville expressway.
Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭296,596 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten
Dewi Astutik, known as Kak Jinda, was arrested in Sihanoukville after Indonesian and Cambodian officers tracked her to a white Prius outside the Novotel. They verified her identity at 13:39. No resistance. She is accused of running a Rp5 trillion meth operation tied to a 2 ton shipment into Indonesia. She was the kingpin. She handled the strategic side of the network, building the channels and contacts that kept the flow moving. Removing her gives investigators a direct line into how the operation worked and who profited from it. She has been taken to Phnom Penh for deportation. Indonesian agencies will examine how her group stayed active for so long and identify the remaining players.
Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭262,404 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten