Madagascar dismantles scam network shifted from Cambodia after Thai raids

ANTANANARIVO: Raids against online scam centers in Madagascar have exposed ties to a criminal group that previously ran similar operations in Cambodia, authorities told AFP. The enterprises were involved in romance, cryptocurrency and investment fraud, and were largely operated by Chinese nationals—148 of whom have been extradited to China, according to Madagascar’s justice ministry.

• Thirteen Chinese‑run scam compounds were seized in August and September in coordinated operations with the U.S. Department of Justice.
• In a single day, authorities confiscated roughly $52 million in cryptocurrency and processed more than 3,200 electronic devices.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime warned last year that such networks were expanding into Southern Africa.

Eleven Chinese nationals arrested during the crackdown were later released from a Madagascar jail in August amid a widely publicized scandal that allegedly implicated the head of the prison service. Several African nationals remain in custody, even though early findings suggest they may have been victims of human trafficking.

Recruited via social media, the Madagascar centers allegedly lured Africans to the island with promises of employment. Around 20 nationals of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe were taken into custody.

“According to their statements, they were recruited via Facebook to come work in Madagascar in the commercial sector,” said Hassan Mouigni, chief of the police crime unit, speaking to AFP.

“But when they arrived here, most of the passports were confiscated by the boss and they were forced to scam. They were victims of deception,” he added.

The mastermind of one romance‑scam scheme was identified as Malaysian national Chui Kok Wa, who settled in a villa in the upscale Ivato neighborhood near the capital, Antananarivo. U.S. authorities noted that his visa shows his first arrival in 2024 and that he had previously been in Cambodia.

“His criminal group, with connections to Malaysia and China, opened scam compounds in Madagascar in early 2025, likely having moved the operations from Cambodia after law‑enforcement actions there,” the DoJ said.

Tsitohaina Ralihivao, coordinator of Madagascar’s communications ministry cybercrime unit, linked the case to a 2025 sweep of scam compounds in Cambodia near the Thai border, where military clashes also occurred. “When the Thais dismantled them, they just relocated the operations. The same organizations came to Madagascar,” Ralihivao told AFP.

An FBI court document shared by the DoJ reached a similar conclusion after interviewing three Brazilian nationals who worked at a scam compound in Antananarivo. “These individuals reported that they originally responded to work opportunities posted online, and ended up working at a compound located in Cambodia. Later, in part due to an armed conflict between Cambodia and Thailand, and also in response to police activity in Cambodia related to scam compounds, the witnesses were moved to Antananarivo, Madagascar, in early‑May 2026,” the filing stated.

“Cyber scam centers are increasingly opening in Africa following the closure of such compounds in Southeast Asia,” the FBI said.

U.S. authorities intervened because the centers “primarily targeted English‑speaking countries,” including the United States, Canada and Pakistan, Mouigni explained. “Hence the need for nationals from English‑speaking African countries,” added Ralihivao.

The influx of scam centers has not gone unnoticed in the capital. “Before they occupied villas that were a little discreet. What alerted us was that they started renting entire hotels,” Mouigni said.

The suspected head of a compound based at the Live Hotel was a Chinese national who was among those extradited to Beijing. Because he was identified as a “Chinese national leader,” the FBI could not question him, a U.S. federal police official stated in court papers.

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