Cambodian authorities have arrested a prominent businessman featured in a 2023 BBC Eye investigation into alleged online scam operations as part of a wider effort to tackle organised online fraud.
Kuong Li, a 50-year-old Cambodian national, was charged with illegal recruitment for exploitation, aggravated fraud, organised crime and money laundering relating to alleged offences committed in Cambodia and elsewhere since 2019.
On 15 January, a Phnom Penh court ordered him to be remanded in custody pending further proceedings.
Kuong Li was featured in The Pig Butchering Romance Scam, a BBC Eye investigation into allegations of human trafficking and fraud inside scam compounds in Southeast Asia.
That programme, broadcast in March 2023, focused in part on the Huang Le compound, a venue under Kuong Li's ownership in the coastal city of Sihanoukville.
The documentary followed the account of 'Didi', a Chinese man who said he left home after being promised a well-paid job, but was trafficked into Cambodia and forced to work inside the walled compound.
Didi said he was made to work from 20:00 to 08:00 local time, targeting victims in Europe and the United States, and was not permitted to leave the complex.
He also shared secretly recorded footage with the BBC and the Global Anti-Scam Organisation, a volunteer-run group that helps rescue and support trafficked victims.
Three years after the documentary was broadcast, he is now working in a factory in southern China.
The investigation also featured testimony from Mi Lijun, another Chinese man who became seriously ill while being held at the compound. He was found abandoned on a highway and died from organ failure shortly afterward.
While Kuong Li remains in pre-trial detention, Cambodian authorities say investigations are continuing into wider networks linked to organised online fraud. The Secretariat of the Commission for Combating Cybercrime indicated that Cambodian courts handled 37 major cases between 2025 and mid-January 2026.
This case not only emphasizes the serious issues of trafficking and exploitation in scams but also showcases the collaborative efforts of media and authorities in addressing these crimes.
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