Experts Say Thailand Can’t Completely Eradicate Scam Centre Issue

Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked via Thailand to other countries in Southeast Asia to operate online scamming activities in recent years.

These online rackets, which include swindling money in fake romance, financial investment, cryptocurrency and illegal gambling schemes, are usually operated by Chinese criminal networks.

The scammers are often innocent individuals looking for a better job, before being lured into fake promises of lucrative employment in Thailand. When they travel to the kingdom under these false pretences, they are met by scamming recruiters who then transport them to other parts of the Southeast Asia region.

Once these victims arrive into these scam compounds, they are effectively forced into online slave labour, harshly trained and ordered to begin scamming for financial results. If they try to escape the compound, they risk torture, beatings, electrocution, and death, according to first-hand accounts.  

It means Thailand, which borders Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, has essentially become the transit hub for scammer recruiters. 

So when images of around 260 people being rescued by the Thai authorities from Myanmar and returned to Thailand at the beginning of March, it was seen as a small victory. The group, from at least 28 different nationalities mostly from Asian and African countries, were part of over 7,000 people who had been rescued by authorities in the weeks prior from illegal cyber hubs in Myanmar’s border towns.

“It is still what we call a drop in a bucket,” said Amy Miller, Southeast Asia director of aid group Acts of Mercy International in Mae Sot. “We’re celebrating that large released, it’s unprecedented, yet it’s still not the whole picture of those who are still inside the compounds,” she added. 

And yet if it hadn’t been for one Chinese actor, that rescue would have not likely happened.

Wang Xing, a 31-year-old actor from China, went missing in Thailand in January that prompted a bigger crackdown.

Wang travelled Thailand on the promise of an acting role in a movie. But he soon found himself at a scam operation in the notorious KK Park in Myawaddy. Luckily for Wang, social media outcries became so loud in China that it prompted Thailand officials to track down the actor, and he was rescued four days later.

After all, Thailand has close relations with China, which is economically vital to the Thai economy. Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra soon after met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in February, assuring that her government would do what it could to crackdown on scam centers operating on its borders. Since then an anti-scam center task force with Beijing and the Myanmar military has been established.

Part of Thailand’s efforts have included cutting off electricity, internet and gas supplies to several border areas with Myanmar, aiming to drive out the scam networks. And according to the Thailand’s Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, it’s had some success as they report there has been a near 30% decline in call centre scam cases between 6 February and 7 March compared to the previous month.

But one Thai lawmaker isn’t convinced the impact will last. 

Rangisman Rome, the deputy leader for Thailand’s opposition The People Party, says the recent operations aren’t long lasting.

“It’s not really solving the problem,” he told VOA News. “We have found evidence that construction is still ongoing in some areas, particularly in Shwe Kokko, where scam compounds continue to expand. It seems like the authorities are only making small, visible efforts to create the impression that they are addressing the issue. In reality, the scale of these crackdowns is very limited, and no significant progress has been made in truly dismantling these networks.”

“Once public attention fades, I believe these scam operations will resume as before, because the root causes have not been addressed. Without continued pressure, the same criminal networks will simply rebuild and operate as they did before,” he added. 

Trafficking and illegal scams in Cambodia is also something Thailand must contend with. A scam centre bust in March saw 215 victims rescued in Poipet, Cambodia, with 119 of them being Thai.

It has prompted talk from Thai lawmakers of a wall being built on part of the 508-mile-long Thai-Cambodian border. Previous Thai proposals have considered building a 34-mile wall between Thailand's Sa Kaeo province and Poipet. A study will take place to see about how feasible it is, according to the Thai government.

But is it realistic scam centres can be eradicated completely? 

Tita Sanglee, an associate fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, doesn’t think so.

“The crackdown by the Thai government has certainly disrupted scam operations, but I don’t think it will have a lasting impact. First, these scammers are highly resilient. And now, with pressure on gangs in Myanmar, some syndicates have probably already relocated to Cambodia. While many scammers are trafficking victims, some work voluntarily, drawn by high salaries. In this sense, there’s no way to eliminate these scam businesses without creating legitimate job opportunities for the people,” she said. 

It’s clear the scam centre problem is not a bootleg operation. In a May 2024 the Transnational Crime in Southeast Asia report by United States Institutes of Peace or USIP found Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos had 305,000 scammers operating in 2023, swindling victims out of $39 billion in revenue.

The complete eradication of scam centres may never happen, but if it does, it will need to be a global operation, not just a task for Thailand.

Banner image: The Myanmar side of a checkpoint on the border. Image: Wikimedia Commons

Asia Media Centre