Border Sabre-Rattling Intensifies & Scammers Charged in the US
And PM Manet jets off to France amid border tensions
The last 10 days have seen more posturing, thinly-veiled threats and flat-out silliness between Thailand and Cambodia than in years. It’s entirely possible that whatever we write here will change in the next twelve hours or twelve minutes, but here’s the latest:
By Monday, word of an unofficial agreement circulated that “both sides” — the Thai and Cambodian militaries — had agreed to pull back from the contested Chong Bok border area, where they had beefed up troops in anticipation of a potential clash. (Cambodia’s Ministry of Defence appeared to deny this claim and said that troops remained in sovereign territory, but didn’t clarify if that included Chong Bok). Meanwhile, the countries’ joint border commission is slated to meet this Saturday, June 14, although they disagree about what exactly is on the table for negotiations.
Cambodian PM Hun Manet — who was out of town again this week in Nice, France, attending the United Nations Oceans Conference — has not offered an update on whether and how the case will proceed with the ICJ — except to create another large government committee. In part because Cambodia wants to take up the Ta Moan Thom, Ta Moan Toch, Ta Krabei and Chong Bok disputes with the ICJ, it’s not clear what the joint border commission will actually have to talk about Saturday; Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn effectively panned the meeting outright by saying “it is increasingly evident that bilateral dialogue alone may no longer suffice.”
Other barbs are still flying: Somewhat amusingly, the Thai military released satellite imagery to supposedly prove that the Cambodian military has not actually used the Chong Bok area for the last 70 years as they have claimed, instead dating their activities to just the last few months. Thai PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra has also taken up a more forceful tone, quoting the national anthem that Thailand is prepared for battle and proclaiming that while she’s close with her Cambodian counterparts — an allusion to the famously tight relationship between Hun Sen and her father — “if a friend demands your house, no one would agree to give it.” For more on this, check out analyst Ken Lohatepanont’s nice take on how the conflict has highlighted deep distrust of Shinawatra’s government and pushed her to appease nationalists.
Perhaps the biggest impact of all this tit-for-tat, though, is the loss of border access for regular people. Despite deep-seated historic tension and ethno-nationalism between the two countries, thousands of Cambodians work in Thailand, trade goods and services there, and seek medical care not available at home. But starting on June 6, Thailand imposed various border restrictions — including restricted hours and outright closures — at 10 border checkpoints, while both countries have truncated border passes to just seven days.
The fallout is obvious and avoidable: One Cambodian family ferrying a family member recovering from emergency brain surgery was turned away from returning home. Traders piled up at checkpoints as they attempted to make daily crossings for work, while others waited in long queues to renew their suddenly and arbitrarily-expiring visas. And chaos abounded in Poipet, a huge gambling and casino crossing where workers, tourists and families amassed in crowds to make it across the border.
More concerning are the calls for electricity and internet cuts for areas along Cambodia’s border — this is being pitched as an anti-scam effort too. The Thai Foreign Ministry said these measures were under consideration and former Yellow Shirts leader Sondhi Limthongkul made these part of his six-point strategy to deal with the conflict. While it is convenient for civilian and military leaders on either side to throw out measures that don’t directly impact them, it is ordinary Cambodians living in border areas who remain in the firing line of this conflict and will be the most impacted.
U.S. curbs money laundering:
Five men — three of whom are from Southern California — pleaded guilty to money laundering charges related to Cambodian pig-butchering scams that caused about $37 million in losses for victims, the U.S. Department of Justice said this week.
The men operated in the money transfer step of the scamming supply chain: In a nutshell, after Cambodia-based scammers successfully received victim funds, they transferred them to a Bahamas bank account registered to three of the men, who converted the funds to stablecoin Tether before transferring them back to a digital asset wallet controlled by the scammers. If you’re interested in understanding how exactly this process works, here’s Yanyu Chen’s fantastic piece on “moving bricks,” the colloquial term for money laundering in scamming.
The two other men managed a network of money launderers in Los Angeles who registered shell companies, opened U.S. bank accounts, and wired victim funds to international bank accounts, the DOJ said.
This case is notable for a few reasons: First, the Americans are increasingly interested in attacking scamming from the money laundering angle, connecting this group of five to the 2024 case of Daren Li — a China-Cambodia-St. Kitts-and-Nevis-UAE brick mover credited with laundering upwards of $70 million — and cracking down on Huione. Second, this case raises questions about how much of the money transfer step of the scamming supply chain is located in the U.S. And third, the U.S. continues to face a tricky balancing act of calling out scamming and courting Hun Manet amid fears of Chinese influence at Ream Naval Base.
In other scamming news:
— Indonesia prevented a citizen from traveling to Cambodia on false pretences of a job via Malaysia, and warned migrant workers against accepting any jobs related to online gambling.
— Two Cambodian men were arrested in Thailand after withdrawing large sums of cash with 18 different bank cards. Thai authorities say the withdrawals were linked to illegal online gambling operations.
— A joint operation by Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Macao led to the arrests of more than 1,800 people allegedly involved in scam networks.
And in local news:
— After chairing a meeting for the National Council for Women, which is somewhat ironic in itself, Hun Sen said he would donate a plot of land valued at $10 million to build a dormitory for female students studying in Phnom Penh. This is a classic Hun Sen move, in that a program that ostensibly should come from public funds is instead framed as personal charity to the people. Still, the outcome is good: Universities in the capital don’t have enough housing for women, forcing some students to pursue their education elsewhere.
Speaking of charity, read our special report Gold-Plated Grift that shows how the Cambodian Red Cross is used to whitewash reputations and functions as the personal fief of charity boss Bun Rany.
— A Siem Reap court sentenced an alleged illegal logger to 12 years in prison for killing environmental journalist Chhoeung Chhoeng last December, and also ordered him to pay $13,500 to Chhoeng’s family, an outcome applauded by Reporters Without Borders, which now ranks Cambodia 161st out of 180 countries for press freedom. Chhoeng’s slaying was the first of an environmental journalist since 2014, according to CamboJA, when two reporters were killed in separate incidents investigating illegal fishing and logging.
— A journalist was detained in Poipet. It’s not clear if this is related to the Thai-Cambodia dispute or not.
— Two opposition party members, one from Candlelight and the other the Nation Power Party, have been arrested and accused of incitement and forgery.
— The National Disaster Management Committee has instructed local governments across the country to prepare to rescue citizens from flooding as the rainy season kicks off. Last year, mass flooding forced thousands from their homes and led to the deaths of at least 27 people.
— Three years after mass evictions began forcing 10,000 families from Angkor Wat, the Minister of Land Management vowed to resolve land disputes in the area, though he did not explain how.
— A land survey official was arrested after he drove his Land Cruiser while intoxicated, crashed into a motorcycle and fled the scene, leaving one woman dead and seriously injuring another. Last month, a video of an intoxicated senior police officer who crashed his car into Phnom Penh traffic and killed one person went viral, prompting mass frustration with the preconception that the rich and powerful rarely receive punishment for drunk driving.
— A teenager who attracted authorities’ attention for performing motorcycle stunts was disciplined by receiving an unflattering partially-shaved haircut, a shame-based punishment that authorities have used for misbehaving teens in the past. Kouprey will not link to the articles here to protect the kids’ identities.
— Authorities in Phnom Penh’s Riverside area (humorously called the “French Quarter” by the Khmer Times), notorious for its hostess bars and sex tourism, say they plan to use “aggressive measures to maintain public order.”
See you next week!