Nineteen Chinese and Taiwanese nationals were arrested in Phnom Penh’s Toul Kork district yesterday in connection with voice over internet protocol (VoIP) scams.

The arrests were made after anti-terrorism police collected evidence of the scammers’ alleged extortion and threatening of Chinese citizens via masked telephone numbers for over a month.

“They were members of a network of Chinese kidnappers who have threatened and extorted money from the people in China and Taiwan via VoIP telephones in Cambodia,” Y Sok Khy, chief of the anti-terrorism police at the Ministry of Interior, said.

“This marked the fourth time as we have cracked down and arrested people related with money extortion via VoIP … this year.“

The 19 suspects are currently being detained and questioned, he said.

In the raid, police confiscated myriad materials related to the technology-based scam.