Background
Grand Golden Casino is located on National Road 72 in Trapeang Phlong, Tboung Khmum Province, close to the Vietnam border crossing. This relatively short stretch of road is home to several major online scam compounds, most of which have emerged relatively recently. This includes Rongxingdi Resort World, Xa Mat Casino, and Site TK05 (profiled here, here, and here).
There has been a casino at the site of Grand Golden Casino since 2010, and a connected complex of ten large office buildings was built in 2019. The site is often referred to in Chinese as Golden City (黄金城). In mid-2023, the complex began to expand, and by October 2025 it had almost doubled in size. According to a report by Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment, as of March 2025, it hosted 500 permanent residents.
A visual inspection of the location found that it was enclosed by metal fences topped with razor wire. All visible windows in the office zone of the compound are barred or enclosed in cages. Images from inside the compound show that it has security cameras positioned so that they face inwards.
Recruitment ads for Grand Golden Casino can be found on social media and job websites. One Vietnamese language ad from 2022 advertised work in ‘online sales’. The job came with food and accommodation in a six-person room, a salary of VND18–21 million (US$680–800) and ‘commission on sales’. The company also offered to pay transportation costs, and said no qualifications were needed apart from basic computer knowledge. All of the above are common features of online scam and gambling recruitment. This ad ran in the classified section of VnExpress, one of the largest online Vietnamese newspapers.
There are also ads online targeting Bahasa Indonesian, Cambodian and Chinese speakers.
Incidents
In March 2025, a Malaysian woman made a public appeal for her son to be rescued from the site. She told the media her son was persuaded by two friends to take a chef job in Singapore. It is unclear how, but he ended up trapped in Cambodia, where his captors said he could not leave without paying US$7,000. His wife was able to pinpoint his location by using the find my phone feature on his iPhone, and images of the location shown in a press conference reveal the location was Grand Golden Casino.
In November 2024, a fire broke out in one of the compound dormitories. It took two hours to bring under control but there were no injuries.
A stream runs through the compound grounds, and in May 2025, Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment found Grand Golden to be illegally polluting public waterways.
In November 2025, a conflict in the compound led to a disturbance and hundreds of workers gathered. The crowds dissipated but one car was flipped over and badly damaged. Videos of the incident circulated on Telegram, and posts on Telegram indicated that the police gathered at the compound the following day, but it is unclear at present what action, if any, was taken.
Which Actors and Companies Have Been Linked to Grand Golden Casino / Golden City?
The license for Grand Golden Casino is held by the company Grand Golden Co., Ltd. The company is chaired by Su Liangsheng, who is from China but obtained Cambodian citizenship in 2019.
Su is an executive at various companies under the Heng He Group, which is linked to MDS Heng He Thmorda SEZ in Pursat, and Heng He 1, Heng He 2, and Heng He 3 in Bavet (profiled here, here, here, and here). In September 2025, he was sanctioned by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control as part of a measure targeting ‘scam centers across Southeast Asia that steal billions of dollars from Americans using forced labor and violence’.
Location of Grand Golden Casino / Golden City
Grand Golden Casino / Golden City in the News
2025
2 May: ‘Ministry of Environment Names 28 Polluting Factories in Cambodia’, Khmer Times. Link.
27 March: Elton Gomes, ‘Another Sabahan Kidnapped’, Borneo Post. Link.
2024
6 November: Tith Kongnov, ‘Casino Fire Put Out with Help from Vietnamese Firefighters’, Khmer Times. Link.
3 November: ‘ដឹងមូលហេតុហើយ! ករណីអគ្គិភ័យឆេះបន្ទប់ស្នាក់នៅកាស៊ីណូ៧ជាន់ ច្រកត្រពាំងផ្លុង [We Know the Cause! Fire on the 7th Floor of the Casino Dormitory at Trapeang Phlong]’, Koh Santhepheap. Link.
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