People who by force, scam people: This is what the incredible crypto fraud factory looks like.

In recent years, Cambodia has been home to high-rise complexes, many built in Chinese-run "special economic zones," which human rights advocates say in part serve as quasi-factories for online financial fraud conducted against victims across Asia, and increasingly, in the United States. Forbes recently profiled a California-based scam victim who lost more than $1 million in what is known as a "pig-slaughter" scam, where a scammer builds a long-term relationship with their victim before convincing them to invest money in a cryptocurrency scheme.

Within these centers, workers who have been lured and trafficked from neighboring countries are coerced into these scams through various online channels. However, as part of a recent nationwide crackdown on what Cambodian government officials have called "illegal gambling," at least some building complexes believed to host these cryptocurrency-driven financial scam operations have been disrupted in recent days, experts say.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Sar Kheng, Cambodia's interior minister, said 176 people had been arrested in connection with the series of raids, spanning eight nationalities. In a statement issued Sunday by the Preah Sihanouk provincial government, authorities said they recovered four weapons, 804 computers, 16 laptops, 36 passports, four pairs of handcuffs, eight...