Crime & Courts

Suspected Fraud Group Had Been at Cambodian Hotel Since Oct.

Shinsuke Yasuda / The Yomiuri Shimbun
The hotel where a group suspected of fraud was based is seen in Sihanoukville Province, Cambodia, on Sunday.

By Shinsuke Yasuda / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

15:13 JST, April 11, 2023

PHNOM PENH — A Japanese group suspected of defrauding victims in Japan from a hotel in Sihanoukville Province, Cambodia, had been based at the hotel since October, local police told The Yomiuri Shimbun on Monday.

About 20 police officers raided the hotel on Jan. 24 and detained 19 men, who were transported to a police facility in Phnom Penh the following day.

The suspects had all entered the country on tourist visas sometime between 2021 and 2023.

The group is believed to have rented several rooms at the hotel, using some as bedrooms and the others as working spaces in which fraud was allegedly committed.

A hotel employee said the 19 men looked like ordinary tourists who seemed to be enjoying their stay, swimming in the pool and going to the gym.