The Cambodia Microfinance Association’s (CMA) warned that people who bought digital coins or invested in PAYEER wallets should cease immediately as it is “fraudulent”.
Kaing Tongngy, head of the CMA’s communications department, said he had seen the company offering investment in coins to the public using the names and logos of legitimate banking and financial establishments in Cambodia to attract them. The company had no formal relationship with these institutions and was using their logos without permission.
“PAYEER is a fraudster. If people are unaware of this, they may invest money and will not get a return. We want to make people aware of this in advance so they will not be fooled,” he said.
Tongngy said that there had been several recent attempts by scammers to take advantage of the public, citing ABC and OL Football as examples.
Sok Chan, head of financial inclusion and public relations at the Association of Banks in Cambodia (ABC), said PAYEER had announced its cooperation with several banking establishments to attract investors via its Telegram channel.
“It affects the reputation of legitimate establishments when their relationships are falsified like this. I urge the public to stop investing in this company to protect the good reputation of the banking industry,” he added.
Three associations – Cambodian Association of Finance & Technology (CAFT), CMA and ABC – issued a joint statement on November 12 warning that none of their members is involved with PAYEER.
“We are aware of a platform relating to digital currencies in some social media groups. In particular, PAYEER has used the names of banking and financial establishments who are our members without permission. The company announced their cooperation with some banking and financial establishments in Cambodia to accept payments, withdraw money, and invest and deal in crypto currencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Crypto,” it said.
