Early yesterday morning, 168 Chinese nationals were deported from Cambodia, following their arrest last month for allegedly using the Kingdom as a base from which to extort money from victims in China, police said.

The group, including 19 women, had been accused of using an internet phone system known as voice over internet protocol technology (VoIP), which masks a caller’s genuine location, to blackmail their countrymen, said Lieutenant General Khun Sambo, an official at the Interior Ministry’s Immigration Department.

“The Chinese government sent two planes to take them to their country,” he added.

According to Sambo, the arrest and deportation of the extortionists was a result of cooperation between the Cambodian police and their Chinese counterparts.

“We have taken action to investigate and arrest masterminds and other criminals involved in these activities,” he said.

A further 86 Chinese people suspected of involvement in a similar crime were also deported from Indonesia yesterday, according to Chinese media.

Police hope to make more arrests, Sambo said.

“We are determined to work hard to find the source of the crime in order to eliminate it from our country.”

In the past, criminals involved in a similar VoIP scam were accused of making calls from Cambodia that appeared to come from Chinese police, and using this deceit to pressure victims in China to part with cash.