BANGKOK - Thai authorities are claiming a measure of success in cracking down on transnational scams in border areas, saying the number of such crimes and the financial damage they cause has dropped sharply, though they warn that international cooperation is vital to eradicate the problem.
The Royal Thai Police said Monday the number of reported scam cases this month in centers operating mostly on Thailand's borders with Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos dropped 69.2 percent from October last year, with financial damage declining 87.3 percent. It said it arrested or issued arrests for over 29,300 scammers, comprising both Thai and foreign nationals, over that nine-month period.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who took office in September and set up an anti-cyber scam center the following month, told reporters that it is "a top priority of the government to suppress technology-related crimes, call center scams," and other types of fraud. He said his government is promoting cooperation among government agencies to enhance the efficiency of investigations.
The over 29,300 arrested scammers include a Japanese man who allegedly led a scam call center in Cambodia and was detained at an airport near Bangkok on June 7, and another Japanese man who was suspected of remotely supervising call center staff in Cambodia from Bangkok and was deported to Japan on June 16.
Scam compounds in the border areas once operated as casinos but shifted to serving as bases for crime syndicates after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thailand started to tackle scam compounds in early 2025 under the previous government of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, cutting off electricity, internet access and transportation routes to the compounds as well as shutting down illegal websites and freezing suspicious bank accounts.
Those who work at scam compounds are from a variety of countries. Many are lured there under false pretenses by criminal syndicates and unable to leave.
A scam complex in O'Smach Resort in Cambodia, near Thailand's Chong Chom area, is believed to have operated with many forced workers, though the number is unclear. The complex was demolished by Thai artillery strikes in December after the two countries' border area became a strategic site during their border conflict last year.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 people were estimated to be engaged in online and phone scams at the compound, the Thai military has said. It said it gave warnings to the compound prior to the strikes and that no one was hurt, with all the workers fleeing further into Cambodia.
The ruins in the former resort town, comprising some 160 buildings, of which 29 comprised the scammer base, were shown to the media in March and April. One of the buildings contained person-sized booths used as a soundproofed space for fraudulent phone calls, and rooms full of desks and computers lined the hallway.
Another room appeared to be a cell where forced workers were confined for punishment. Other rooms were made to resemble police or public security offices in foreign countries such as China, Vietnam and Indonesia, with uniforms of their police forces left on the floor.
"These counterfeit police stations were used to scam people on video calls. The scammers wanted to convince the victims that they were speaking with legitimate authorities" to get their money, a military officer who guided reporters explained.
According to a report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights released in February, trafficked workers have powered a sprawling online scam industry in Southeast Asia estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars a year.
The report said that an estimated 300,000 people from 66 countries are involved in scam operations scattered across the region.
Suspicious abductions linked to the scam industry continue to be revealed. In a latest case, a university student from Hong Kong was tricked into traveling to Thailand on June 1 by scammers who impersonated foreign law enforcement officials and falsely accused her of involvement in criminal activity, according to Thai investigators.
She was instructed to stage her own kidnapping and take a video of herself, which was sent to her family by the scammers for a ransom demand of HK$ 3 million ($382,700).
Scammers' compounds appear to remain active elsewhere in the region, according to Thai officials who guided the media tour, underscoring that a single country alone holds no power to eradicate this transnational criminal organization.
"International cooperation is needed to suppress it seriously. This problem affects the economy and images, not only for Thailand, but also for other ASEAN countries as well," said Maratee Andamo, deputy spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry.
