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It’s become a reality of daily life in the West. Messages on social media from anonymous profiles urging you to invest in crypto. Phone calls from someone claiming to work for your bank or software provider, warning that your account is about to be compromised.

For most of those at the receiving end, scams are simply a nuisance to be ignored. For the minority who fall for them, they can have devastating consequences. But little thought is usually given to those on the other side of the phone – hundreds of thousands of whom have been trafficked, abused and imprisoned in vast, multi-storey facilities across south-east Asia.

In Cambodia alone, roughly 100,000 people are estimated by the United Nations to be forcibly involved in online scams.

Leading the charge to shut them down is Mu Sochua, a 71-year-old Cambodian opposition activist and former MP who since 2017 has been living in self-exile in the United States.

Mu argues that the scam centres are only able to operate because the country’s government tolerates them. There is no path to permanently closing all of them, she suggests, without restoring democracy in Cambodia.

“There would not be scam centres on this scale – with torture and human rights abuses – if it was in a country with the rule of law, a government elected by the people in a free and fair manner, where there is civil society, independent judiciary and independent media,” she says.

The UK government, she argues, should say loudly and clearly that the Cambodian regime is complicit in allowing the centres to remain open.

In October 2025, the UK and US announced sanctions on Chen Zhi, chairman of the Prince Group conglomerate that built some of the scam centres and was implicated in laundering their proceeds, along with a network of associated companies. Further sanctions against other groups and individuals linked to the scam centres were announced in March.

Some of those sanctioned had incorporated their businesses in the British Virgin Islands and invested in the London property market, including a £12m mansion on Avenue Road, a £100m office building on Fenchurch Street and several flats.

All of these assets were frozen by the sanctions, but Mu argues that “freezing alone is not enough”. Ministers should ensure, she says, that the money raised from them is used to support the victims of human rights abuses in Cambodia, just as immobilised Russian assets have been used to support the Ukrainian war effort.

Mu also points out that no sanctions have been levelled against members of the Cambodian government. Close family members of deputy prime minister Neth Savoeun, for example, reportedly own luxurious London properties.

While the Foreign Office expressed “regret” that Cambodia’s most recent election, in 2023, was “neither free nor fair” – due to the disqualification of the main opposition party – the regime’s ruling family continued to enjoy access to the UK’s education system.

Just last month, the son of one of Cambodia’s other deputy prime ministers, Hun Many – who is himself a son of the country’s former prime minister Hun Sen – graduated from Sandhurst military academy.

“Look how well-prepared they are to give the top education to their children,” says Mu. “To groom their children to take over. Where? In the UK. In the US.”

Mu, who served as a minister in the Cambodian government from 1998 to 2004, was in 2005 nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize along with 999 other women around the world working to advance peace and human rights. But in 2017, her party leader was arrested on treason charges, and Mu was forced to flee after being tipped off that she would be next.

“I only had, overnight, less than 10 hours to pack up,” she remembers. “I never even had a chance to say goodbye to my family, and since then, I’ve not been able to go back.”

When The House meets Mu, she is visiting the UK Parliament in her role as president of the Khmer Movement for Democracy (KMD) – a global campaign to restore Cambodia’s democratic freedoms.

Over the last year, she has made similar visits to speak with parliamentarians and officials in Japan, South Korea, the US, Canada, Australia, Belgium and Germany.

This is a moment where you have Cambodia down on its knees – don’t let go

Mu says she is “banging on the door” of each of these governments, particularly as many of them were signatories to the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements intended to guarantee Cambodia’s democracy in perpetuity. As long as the accords are being violated, Mu argues that the UK and others should cease trading with Cambodia.

“The UK, the EU, the US – where there is a huge market for the Cambodian garments sector – have to use that leverage that they have,” she says, adding that it does not make sense to condemn the scam centres while continuing to import clothing from a country rife with labour exploitation.

“On the one hand, you go after the scam centres. On the other hand, the UK closes its eyes to other kinds of violations, like workers’ rights.”

The Cambodian economy, she points out, is in a precarious state and further pressure, instead of what she calls “soft diplomacy”, may help break the regime’s resolve: “This is a moment where you have Cambodia down on its knees – don’t let go.”

Not only are the scam centres destroying lives, she adds, but they are part of a wider network of criminality that is “putting global security in jeopardy”. Until it was closed in December last year, the Cambodian digital payment platform Huione Pay was being used not only to launder money from the scams but also to launder cryptocurrency stolen by North Korean hackers, which may in turn be helping to fund Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.

Mu’s multiple attempts to return to her home country have been blocked by the authorities, who have cancelled her Cambodian passport. But she takes courage from her work leading KMD, which is currently setting up an elected overseas citizens assembly to speak for Cambodians inside and outside the country.

“We are for national reconciliation,” says Mu. “I want to go home – I have tried so hard to go home.

“Right now, we are building this platform so that the Cambodian people are united, so that we can represent ourselves as an alternative, democratic Cambodia. That will be feasible if the international community starts coming back to Cambodia in the context of the Paris Peace Accords.”

The Foreign Office declined to comment in response to Mu’s remarks, instead pointing The House back to the press releases announcing their sanctions on those connected to the scam centres. The Cambodian government did not respond to a request for comment.

Following the UK’s sanctions in March, Cambodia’s parliament passed its first law targeting the scam centres in April. Under the legislation, scams conducted by gangs or against many victims can be punished by up to 10 years in prison and as much as $250,000 in fines. The law also outlines penalties for those convicted of money laundering, gathering victims’ data, or recruiting scammers.

Justice minister Koeut Rith told reporters at the time: “This law is strict like the fishing net, strict to ensure we don’t have the online scams anymore in Cambodia, strict in order to serve the interest of the Cambodian nation and people.”