Seventy-three Chinese nationals were arrested on Saturday for allegedly running a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) scam out of Cambodia to swindle people living in China.

At the request of Chinese authorities, and with the help of local immigration police, 38 suspects were arrested in Kampot, while 35 others were apprehended in Phnom Penh.

“With the request from the Chinese government, we arrested 38 Chinese and sent them to the Immigration Department,” Kampot Provincial Police Chief Mao Chanmathurith said yesterday.

In Kandal, Provincial Police Chief Eav Chamroeun confirmed a police operation, but declined to comment.

According to the deputy chief of the Immigration Department, Khun Sambor, a house in Kandal believed to be rented by participants in the scam was raided but no arrests were made. “In Kandal, we did not arrest anyone. We just found devices such as phones. They rented a house there but they were not in the house when we went,” he said.

Sambor added that the crackdown was a cooperation between Cambodian and Chinese authorities. “All [of the suspects] are from mainland China . . . The Chinese police found the suspects who came to hide in our country and commit crimes here, harming their citizens. So, they made a request to us through the government to ask for our help in cracking down on the scam,” he said.

The head of investigations at the Immigration Department, Uk Hai Sela, declined to comment yesterday.