The Thai military has stepped up road checks near the Thai-Cambodian border, in Karb Choeng district of Surin, to prevent scammers fleeing the crackdown in Myanmar from setting up again in Cambodia’s Casino City in O Samet in Oddar Meanchey province.
Colonel Parkpoom Napakas, commander of the 2nd special operations unit of the Suranaree Task Force, said today that the porous border at Chong Chom Pass in Karb Choeng district, opposite O Samet, is a potential channel through which scammers could slip into Cambodia.
Colonel Parkpoom Napakas, commander of the 2nd special operations unit of the Suranaree Task Force
He said that the strengths of mobile phone and internet signals spilling from Thailand into O Samet have already been reduced, to prevent scam gangs from taking advantage of them.
Meanwhile, it is reported that 20 Thais and four Vietnamese have been captured, as they attempted to slip into O Samet trough the Chong Chom Pass since January. Most of them claimed they were persuaded to work in casinos there and some admitted that they went there to open “mule” bank accounts for call centres.
One Thai national claimed that most of the Thais who are persuaded to travel to O Samet do so to open “mule” bank accounts in return for a reward. He said that those who fail to open the bank accounts would be dumped and have to find their own way back to Thailand.
The crackdown on scam centres in Myawaddy border township, by Myanmar government and Karen forces, has forced many Chinese-run call centres to close and to relocate to other areas in Myanmar and Cambodia.
As many as 10,000 people, of various nationalities, working in the scam centres have now been freed, but most are still waiting to be transferred to Mae Sot district of Thailand’s Tak province before repatriation. More than 600 Chinese nationals were repatriated from Mae Sot last week.
