6 Tourist Scams in Phnom Penh

Your tuk-tuk driver offers an incredibly cheap day tour of the city's major sights — just $5 for the whole day. You agree, thinking you've found a bargain. What follows is a tour that includes unexpected stops at gem shops, tailors, and souvenir stores where the driver receives a commission for every minute you spend inside. The 'real' sights get rushed visits while the commission shops get generous time.

You're walking along Phnom Penh's scenic Mekong riverside when a saffron-robed figure approaches, clasps your hands in a blessing, and ties a bracelet on your wrist while chanting. You assume this is a genuine spiritual interaction and feel honored. Then he holds out his palm for a donation — often quite aggressively — and other 'monks' nearby watch to ensure you pay. Real Buddhist monks do not approach foreigners on streets to sell goods.

A friendly local approaches you and says he's practicing his English and would love to show you around. He introduces you to his 'uncle' — a wealthy businessman who needs a foreigner to help him win a card game against a casino owner as part of a deal. You're shown practice games and always win, building your confidence. The real game requires you to put up your own money, and you lose everything — the entire thing was staged.

You search for 'Cambodia visa online' and click the first or second result, which looks exactly like an official government website. You fill in your details and pay $36 for an e-visa. Later you discover the official e-visa costs $30, the website you used was fake, and your personal data — including passport scans — is now in the hands of a scam operation.

You connect with an organization offering volunteer opportunities at a local orphanage — a chance to spend a day playing with children while donating money to support them. What you're actually funding is an operation that keeps children in poor conditions deliberately to extract donations from well-meaning tourists. Many of the children have living parents who were paid to surrender them for 'orphanage tourism.'

You rent a motorbike to explore the city independently, handing over your passport as a deposit. When you return the bike, the owner claims there's damage you didn't cause and refuses to return your passport until you pay an inflated repair bill. Without your passport you can't leave the country, and you feel trapped into paying whatever they demand.