Thailand arrests 100 people for operating in border scam centre

BANGKOK - Thailand’s police on March 5 detained 100 people for their alleged involvement in a scam centre in Cambodia, its first arrest of Thai nationals in a

regional

crackdown on massive fraud operations

. 

Arrest warrants were also issued for two Chinese nationals who were alleged “gang leaders”, stemming from a raid of a scam centre in February by Thai and Cambodian police in the Cambodian town of Poipet, Police General Thatchai Pitaneelaboot said.

Scam centres have operated along Thailand’s borders with neighbours Myanmar and Cambodia for years, but the

high-profile abduction in Thailand of a Chinese actor

who ended up in a Myanmar boiler room

sparked a multinational effort to dismantle the network

. He has since been returned home. 

Criminal syndicates have trafficked hundreds of thousands of people to work in sprawling compounds, with sophisticated techniques used to trick people into transferring funds, generating illicit revenues running into billions of dollars each year, according to a United Nations report.

In February, Myanmar sent over to Thailand the first group of 260 people taken out of scam centres. So far, about 7,000 people of more than 20 nationalities, mostly Chinese, have been extracted, with some struggling to return home.

Most were victims of human trafficking, according to the Thai authorities, who are coordinating repatriations. Police said the 100 arrested on March 5 were part of the criminal gang running the operation.

They were defrauding victims by impersonating government officials, said Gen Thatchai, who estimated more than 1,000 Thais were still working across borders in scam centres. Police said Thais have been defrauded of about 80 billion baht (S$3.2 billion) in telecoms scams since 2022.  

“These scam centres are transnational criminal organisations, being carried out by foreigners with Thais to defraud Thais,” he said. 

This week, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra ordered a study on the effectiveness of

building a wall on part of its border with Cambodia

to prevent illegal crossings and curb illicit activities.

REUTERS